The Prodigal Daughter
by EmbersOfLife
Summary: "It's been almost three months after my rescue from a small cramped alleyway in New York City. It's been almost three months after my father tried to kill me for the second time. It's been almost three months after I feel deeply in love with an olive green, mutant turtle" (Sequel to: The Effects of Purple) DonatelloXOC
1. Chapter 1

**STOP! Before you read you have to have read the prequel or you won't understand a thing!**

**Welcome to the 3,615 word opening of **_**The Effects of Purple **_**sequel! This is going to be a lot of fun so jump on in! **

: Chapter 1:

It's been almost three months after my rescue from a small cramped alleyway in New York City. It's been almost three months after my father tried to kill me a second time. It's been almost three months after I feel deeply in love with a green, mutant turtle that dwells in the sewers of the city with his three other brothers and mutant rat sensei.

As I sat at my desk in English class, I hadn't realized I was doodling on the cover of my composition notebook.

"Austria…" Mrs. Dean, my English teacher, stopped in front me and shook her head. "Drawing on your notebook again I see"

I looked down at the small paper book and quickly pushed it into my lap. "I'm sorry…I'm just having a bad day"

"You say that every time sweetie. See me after class please" She smiled and walked away to help the next student. I threw my head into my palms and rubbed them down my face. I lifted my notebook out from under my desk and looked at it. I draw the same thing every single time I zone out. They were flowers, just like the ones I saw at the hospital when my dad died. They were the ones that came up from the ground when my tears hit the floor and if I had a purple crayon, I would paint them the colors that they were supposed to be.

The bell rang that ended class and all the students got up out of their desks and left the room. I went to do the same thing but Mrs. Dean blocked my path. "I wanted you to stay remember?" She said.

I also hadn't noticed Hunter was standing at the door waiting for me. We had become really good friends since our last encounter but whenever he asked about the turtles, I simply ignored him and walked away. I looked at him and told him to leave because this was probably going to take a while. He frowned then nodded his head, leaving me and my crazy English teacher alone in a small cramped room.

"Your behavior these last couple of days has been very…apparent" She sat down at one of the students desks and signaled me to do the same. "I am very concerned about your grade in my class too. Its dropping everyday" She fixed the glasses on her face and waited for me to respond. I just stared at her, I was zoning out again.

"Austria…"

"Huh what?" I snapped back to reality. She shook her head and sighed at me.

"This is what I'm talking about"

"I'm sorry, things have just been a little crazy for me" I wasn't lying but I wasn't telling the truth either. Things have been crazy but not crazy enough to distract me from my school work. April and Casey have been taking care of me like they were my own parents. They bought me things; let me stay out until 10pm which was really pushing it according to Leonardo who if you don't know by now, is the really stupid leader of the turtles, according to me. He said if he was taking care of me, he wouldn't let me go out at all hence why he's not taking care of me. Anyway, April and Casey took me on vacation with them last month too. They let me miss a whole two weeks of school so we could go to Orlando, Florida. They said they were just taking a vacation but then later they admitting to wanting to help me get my mind of things which was why we went in the first place.

They did the right thing though because it did help. I completely forgot that my life was a circle of depression and agony but there was one thing I could never get of my mind…especially when our hotel bathroom was painted every shade of purple in the world. I'll let you figure out that one on your own.

We went to Disney and rode every single ride they had to offer and I mean EVERY SINGLE RIDE. Even the little kiddie rides, well, the ones they would let me on anyway. We also went to Sea World and what animal lives in the sea? Turtles live in the sea and that didn't help my separation anxiety one bit. Casey tried to cheer me up by telling me the guys weren't _sea_ turtles so I could just take a frickin chill pill. He may have used a different word but…I'm not ganna go there.

There was something about leaving the City that brought out my good side but when we got back, the drama started all over again. Mainly from a small, orange turtle named Michelangelo.

He made a huge fuss about how we should have taken him with us and bla bla bla. I felt bad though for leaving the guys behind but then I started to wonder what the two day road trip would be like with a mutant turtle who couldn't keep his yap shut.

"Austria…I've been considering this for a while now" Mrs. Dean said. I must have zoned out again because a strange white envelope was sitting in my hands and I had no idea how it got there.

"Wait what?"

"Austria! Didn't you hear a thing I just said?" She stood up from her chair and looked down at me.

"Uh… no sorry could you just…explain it again" I smiled

"I said I've been considering asking you to be sent to a different foster home"

I rose up from my desk and yelled as loud as I could "WHAT?!" I dropped the envelope and got in her face "You don't have the right to do that! You're just an English teacher! Stay out of my life!" Mrs. Dean had found out that April and Casey weren't my Aunt and Uncle like I had told her. She kept it a secret until now I guess.

"Austria, I'm not trying to make things worse here but if your grades drop to low you could be removed from that home and…"

"I'm perfectly fine where I am! You're not my mother!" I stormed out of the room and ran down the hallway. It was only third period but I went out the school doors and onto the busy streets of the City. I had no idea why I had just gotten so angry but what was done is done. I'm going home.

**: At Aprils Apartment:**

"Ok Ok just stop!" April sat down on a rusty old chair and rubbed her temples.

"We're trying to help!" Casey Jones walked up to her and rubbed her shoulders but she flicked him off.

"I told you guys I wanted the cupboard up _near_ the window not in front of it!" She pointed to the large wooden structure that was now keeping the sun from entering the room.

"I blame Casey for that one" Raphael grinned at his friend who returned it with a punch in the arm. Raph had changed the least over the few month period. He was still his old temperamental self and still looked like he took steroids every day. The only difference was a few tears in the flowing ribbons on his red bandana. Leo offered to get him a new one but Raph insisted that it made him look more tuff. As if a giant muscular turtle with 6 inch Sais wasn't enough.

"Move it away from the window please" April was trying to be calmer because she knew Casey and Raphael needed specific directions or they would completely screw up such a simple job.

"Didn't ya just say ya wanted it near the window?" Raph asked

"Just get it away from the opening of the window!" They guys jumped up and moved the object to the left so the sun was shining in. "Perfect now leave it there in front of the wall"

"Isn't that where it is?" Casey scratched his head.

"I should have just asked Leo and Donnie to come instead of you two" She dropped her head in her hands.

**: Austria's POV:**

It wasn't a long walk to April's house from my school…so why was it taking so long!? It was still the early morning and crowds of people were already starting to appear. I walked home from school every day because it didn't offer bus services so most kids took the City Bus or walked like I did. Of course Leo had something to say about that but this time; Donatello despised the idea as well. He said he would be able to sleep better at night if he knew I was getting to and from school safely so I may have lied and told him I would take the bus every day, just to make sure he sleeps soundly at night.

I started to wonder if I had taken a wrong turn once my trip exceeded past 10 minutes. I was starting to not recognize my surrounding either. I hope I didn't zone out and go on auto pilot which apparently, doesn't take me home. I stopped at a small convenience store and walked inside to get directions, something I don't do very often. Oh by the way, this just came to my mind, Leo didn't give me a shell cell despite all the worries and concerns he had for me. He ceases to amaze me and I know what you're saying right now "Couldn't Don just give you one?" well yeah he could if I saw him more often than I did.

"Excuse me?" I walked up to the sick looking man behind the counter. "Do you know how to get to Second Time Around from here?" He looked at me and cocked his head

"What's that?" He talked slowly and you could even see the bad breath flowing out of his mouth

"It's like a pawn store but not really; ok it's like an antique shop" Like I said, I have such a way with words.

"Oh you mean the one on 31st street?" he asked.

"I guess so. I never really checked what street it was on" I tend to give people unneeded information at times. "So do you know how to get there?"

"No mam" He turned around and started to fiddle with his cash register and yes it was on the opposite side of the counter.

"But you just said it was on 31st street. Doesn't that mean you could give me directions?" I was starting to get irritated if you couldn't already tell.

"No mam. I know what street it's on but that doesn't mean I know how ta get there" He said in a western accent. I think he was mocking me because he knew I wasn't from the City. I guess it's easy to tell who's from New York City and whose not and an easy way to find that out is if they have no frickin idea where anything is. Hey, I don't even know if the Statue of Liberty is on the East, West or North and South part of the Island. I bet you $1,001 that 43% of Americans don't know how many stripes are on the American flag and if they don't know that then they don't know where the hell the Statue of Liberty is.

"Fine, I'll just ask someone else who gives a shit" I turned around to walk away but instead, a large, unnaturally muscular man, was standing in my path. "Excuse me" I tried to get around him but he moved in the same direction I tried to. "I said excuse me" now I was looking him in the eyes. They were green and had an unsuitable hunger to them. His blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and he fit the description of a person the guys told me to watch out for.

"Can I help you?" I tried to stay calm as he walked closer to me. I pretended to have no idea who he was either.

"Yes Austria, I think you can" He lifted one side of his brown jacket to show me a shiny, silver gun he had tucked away in this pocket. Just when I thought I would have to give this guy a beat down…

"Hey Austria!" I recognized the strange voice as I kept my glare into Hun's monsters eyes. Hunter came up and put an arm around me. He had ditched his usual sweatshirt look and had decided just to stick with T-shirts and jeans. Hi kept his black hair, slick and out of his eyes but the tip of it rested in a neat crescent above his forehead. "Oh…who's this?" He was trying a bit too hard to look intimidating which was exactly what he wasn't.

"Scram kid. I'm here on business" The man folded his arms and took a few steps back. I guess he wasn't desperate enough to get me if he didn't want to start a fight in this small dinky store. That and he appeared to be alone.

"Actually I need to get my girlfriend to my dad at the police station. There doing some finger print testing and stuff. Hey babe I could just tell them to come here if you want? He'll probably bring some of his _COP_ friends over to help with the procedure" He smiled at me

I seriously was going to kick him in the dick for this. "Yeah _HUN_ whatever you want" I smiled back. When I looked at…Hun…no not hunter, the big ugly dude standing in front me, yeah remember him? He lifted his head up and looked down on us.

"Your not out of this yet girl" He wiped his arm across his mouth and made his way to the door, making all the store shelves shake until he was gone.

"That was a close...UMPH!" He fell onto the ground and tucked his knees into his chest. I told you I was ganna do it.

"What the hell was that?! Are you stalking me or something?" I popped a hip and watched him rock on the ground like a little baby. The store owner even leaned over the counter to get a good look at him.

"I waited for you…then I saw you leave the school…" He moaned in pain. I kind of felt bad but at the same time, I'm a woman of my word. "Did yah have to kick me so hard? My kids aren't ganna be able to have kids!"

"You're not ganna have kids in the first place Pony Boy" I helped him up off the ground but he still was doubled over.

"Can you help me get home please now that your here?"

"Yeah if you help me get a new..."

"Ok let's go!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.

**: Raph's Pov"**

"Ok a little to the left"

"THAT'S IT!" I dropped the cabinet and sat down on the couch leaving Casey alone with the 100 ton piece of furniture.

"RAPH!" He yelled for my help but there was no way I was movin. This woman is drivin me crazy! "Move this ova there move that ova here" I am so done!

"Raph please! I'm sorry, this is the last one I promise"

"You said that four wardrobes ago!" I protested. I'm usually a nice guy to be around but my buttons can get pushed too sometimes and this was one of those times. So April moaned and went to help Casey herself

"It's too far left now" I grinned and she just gave me the ugliest look. "How does it feel?" Casey eventually caught onto my lead and left April to sit down on the couch.

"Guys come on! You know I have to get ready for this discount!" She tried to push the cabinet over but…she was weaker then she looked. "Fine…I'll do it all myself and I'll be sure to tell Leo how helpful you two were"

"What's Leo ganna do spank me?" Case and I banged our knuckles together. Leo may be the leader but he certainly wasn't in any position to discipline me even if he can do a bunch of weird ninja magic and stuff.

"You know what…it looks good here. I'm going to leave it right here" April nodded in approval. There was no way she was ganna leave it there. It was either too far left or too far right or the sun didn't shine on it and make the doors sparkle enough. Ya wanna know the worst part? I aint gettin paid for this either, so I could just walk out if I wanted to. Casey couldn't for reason you probably already know but if yah don't, Case popped April the question and now he's livin the dream…haha not.

"Is that..." April looked out the window and put her hand above her eyes. "I'll be damned it is" She stormed over to the door and swung it open. I instinctively ran to the nearest hiding spot I could which happened to be behind that hideous cabinet. "What are you doing home from school!?" I took a deep breath and came out from my hiding. It was just Austria bein the little badass she was.

"I have a good explanation!" She waltzed in but someone failed to tell me she had a friend with her.

"They are real!" Shit. I pulled out my Sais and he cowered behind Aus like a little child. It took me awhile but I reconized him. I think he was that kid that we met on the street dancin with Donnie. I thought Leo took care of this dick head? Figures he wouldn't have the guts to do it. Ya see? I gotta do everything.

"I'm ganna knock you out for good this time pal" I growled until Aus had to walk up and push me back.

"Would you leave him alone Raph! I didn't know you would be here so I figured what the hell" She pointed her finger at my face and I was about ready to bite it off if she didn't move it in the next three seconds.

"Well Austria you were supposed to be at school so WE figured what the hell!" Casey chimed in. I've taught him well.

"I left school early"

"Yeah no shit" I whispered to Case and she whipped around and threw her backpack at me. She got what she deserved when I skewered it with my Sai.

"Ok can we all just calm the shit down?!" I have never head April swear until this day but Aus' friend looked like he was about to piss his pants.

"Ok pal, you're about to answer the what What question…What's your name and what address should we send your body to?" I grinned and threw the backpack onto the floor so I could spin my Sai's.

"Look I don't want any trouble" He held his hands up in defense so I decided now would be a good time to show him whose boss. I walked up to him closer and closer until he shrunk his head down and gave me puppy eyes. "Hi" he waved but I got close to his face and poked his cheek with the tip of my weapon.

"I just wiped yesterday's blood off these bad boys and I don't wanna get em dirty again" I grinned but of course April had to ruin my fun and pull me away.

"Down boy" Aus said in the back round

"Same goes to you pumpkin" I wrapped my arm around her neck and yanked her onto the floor. She laughed the whole way down until she hit the hard wood floor then got mad and kicked me off. "Now what?" I looked at April and Casey.

"He's a good guy! He won't tell anyone I promise!" She looked at me while she said that. Why does everyone figure I would be the one to kill him?

"We could contact Leo? He would know what to do" I swear Casey had the dumbest ideas but I think he was just tryin to get this guy to follow through and piss himself.

"We don't need to contact Leo!" Aus complained

"You're just afraid he'll chop his head off" I snickered

"Guys cut it out!" April stepped in "I'm sorry what did you say your name was?"

"I don't know if I should tell you" he laughed. Alright I'll give him that one. "It's Hunter…that's all you need to know and like Austria said, I won't tell anyone you guys exists. It's not like they would believe me anyway" He shrugged

"They aint ganna believe you because you aint ganna tell em'!" I was in his face again, making him shrink down to size.

"You're really…in shape" That caught me by surprise. I lifted up one of my arms and looked at it.

"What? Can't mutant turtles have guns too?" I grinned while showing my teeth.

"No No! It's cool, it's cool" I saw him swallow hard. Fear Installation level: Ninja.


	2. Chapter 2

**Reviews appreciated! I'm not just saying that for any reason either. They really do help when I write and inspire me to continue. Any author will tell you that whether their huge and famous or small and not so famous (Muaw). I log on every day and check my reviews for your opinions and when I have nothing to go on…I sad. (Bad grammar) But really...you guys are still awesome if you don't *Sigh*lol **

: Chapter 2:

For those of you who know me really well, you know I have a real bad habit for throwing a fit when I don't get what I want which is unusual considering I came from a home where I practically had _nothing._ If you're wondering what the problem is this time I'll give you a hint.

"I'M NOT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!" Or ill just tell you the whole thing. April was on the phone with my stupid English teacher, having a heart to heart conversation about my "bad grades." I mean seriously, It's English…when in my life will I ever need to know where a comma goes in a sentence! It's not like people text with good grammatical phrases anyway!

"Come on!" Raph was keeping me away from the phone so I wouldn't rip it from April's hands, say a few choice words, and hang it up.

"I understand she can be a little…unfocused at times" The red-headed woman said into the mouth piece. It was one of those phones that plugs into a machine. A good accessory to an antique shop may I add.

"Raph let go you fat, hideous amphibian!" I tried to squiggle out of his arms but…like I said; he's on steroids as far as I know.

"You're an amphibian?" Casey asked while sipping water from an antique glass

"No I aint and how long has that been sitting out?"

"It's clean Raph! Do yah really think I would drink from a dirty glass? Pfft" He took another sip and when Raph wasn't looking, he set it down on the table behind him then scrapped his hand along his tongue in disgust.

"Yes I understand…" April continued. "I will see to it that it doesn't happen again, have a nice day Mrs. Dean…I will bye bye" She sighed then hung the phone back on the wall. "Can't you just stay out of trouble?"

"Ha" A burst of laughter emerged from the other side of the room where Hunter was keeping his distance. "Austria? Stay out of trouble? Yeah when pigs fly"

I gave him a dirty look from my spot on the couch. "Who asked you Mr. Nosey Pants?"

"Ok enough, Hunter…" April looked at the young boy and frowned "I need you to go home now"

"What!" Raphael stood up off the couch, making me fall flat on my face. "What if he tells everyone we exist? Then what!?"

"He won't…I trust him" April smiled at him and batted her eyes. Woman power; never leave home without it.

"I promise, not a living soul will even suspect you guys are here"

"Good thing we didn't tell him about your lair in the sewers right?" Casey chuckled. Raph turned around slowly and faced his numb headed friend. "Oh…nuts, did I just…"

"Well goodbye!" April led him over to the door and shooed him out. Just in time too, Raphael was already on top of Casey Jones and beating the living hell out of him.

"Dude I didn't get to say goodbye!" I ran to the door and waved but Hunter was already gone into the busy crowds of people.

"I'm sorry; I didn't want him to see these two hooligans fighting. Plus I got a text from Leo, he's on his way BUT just listen for a minute, he has no idea you're here at all, he's just coming over to pick up Raphael"

"Yeah like I can't handle myself?" He tried to talk but Casey jumped on top of him and rolled him over on the ground.

"Well you know he's been on edge these last couple of months. Let him go alright? He just wants to protect you guys" She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed

"Even if it gets annoying all the time?" I smiled

"Yes, Even if it…HEY! Don't pull fast ones on me wise guy" She shook me a little then went to break up the scuffle on the floor. "Come on I'm taking you back to school too" She pulled Casey off of Raph and helped them both up off the floor.

"He probably already knows you're here Aus. Remember he's a ninja wizard" Raph grinned

"He's not a wizard!" I yelled at the red clad turtle. I was _maybe_ a little jealous of Leonardo's really cool abilities. He had gotten so good at them over the last few months but what was really scary was when he almost made an object levitate.

We were sitting at the dinner table when they guys had invited us over for Michelangelo's birthday, and we all noticed Leo was just staring at his piece of cake that April had brought over. We all thought he was a nut job until his plastic fork started to shake then float a few centimeters off the table.

He had collapsed from exhaustion a few moments later but I learned a really valuable lesson that day. Making Leo mad = not a good ending on my part. Whenever he calls to check up on us a few times a week, I try my hardest to avoid any type of conversation in fear that one day he might be able to control minds. Raph assured me that mind controlling ninja's were "not cool anymore" and sensei's preferred ones with swords that could slice a body clean in half.

"AUSTRIA!" A shook my head and looked at the three bodies that were standing in front of me. "Yeah what?!"

"Wake up! Mrs. Dean told me you have been doing a lot of that lately" April popped a hip.

"Doing what?" I asked

"That"

"What?" I'm so confused

"THAT! Zoning out!" She bounced her arms up and down in frustration.

"Sorry I was just…" I suddenly felt a cold presence behind me. My mind immediately thought "Purple Dragons" so I clenched my fists ready to snap whoever it was right in the nose. April looked up from my eyes and took a few steps back as did Casey and Raphael. It was definitely a Dragon, and this one was mine.

I swung my right arm around with my fist in a ball, but it was stopped by a large green hand. After my heart started to beat again from shock, I smiled angelically at the visitor. "Oh hey Leo! Fancy seeing you here! I was just on my way to uh…"

"Save it" He let my hand go once it started to turn purple from his constrictor like grasp. "Why aren't you at school?" His tone was calm but his face said it all. I thought he would be happy to see me after a few weeks of… well, not seeing me. I turned back and stared at the others who looked away and pretended to point out things of interest in the shop. It's good to know someone's got your back when you're about to get pounded by a mutant turtle.

"Well? I'm waiting for an appropriate answer" He put his hands on his hips and looked me straight in the eyes. See this is what I'm talking about. I looked away to avoid his glare.

"Well… there are several appropriate answers to that question. My teacher was being a dick so I left. The end" nailed it

"How is that appropriate?" he asked

"I didn't say it was appropriate for you" I lifted my head and smiled. He grinned back, so at least I knew he wasn't mad at me. But then again, turtle expressions seem to not match their intentions at most times.

"So what did she say?" He walked past me and sat down on the couch.

"I talked to her on the phone" April sat next to him and rolled her eyes "She wants to move her to a different home because "her grades are too low" and other crap. But I gave the sob story so she agreed to let her stay"

"How is where Austria resides, up to her?" He raised a brow

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Thank you God! Someone understands! Even if it is Leo "So does that mean I can stay home for the rest of the day? It is Friday" I wasn't asking him in particular. Leo and April seemed to make all the parent like decisions in my life, together. April I would listen to…sometimes…but him? Well, he was a different story, ninja wizard or not.

Leo leaned back and sighed. "It's up to April. She's the one who has to deal with you anyway" He smiled

"Woah Woah Woah" Casey walked up and looked confused "Did Leonardo…our great, all powerful leader, just give up an opportunity to torment Austria?" He laughed and slapped his knees

"I was just shocked that he let someone else do the decision making" Raph added

"Well its true" April appeared to be agreeing with him. Not if I could help it.

"Actually I can make my own decisions" I coked my head to the side. This was followed by bursts of laughter and snickering back and forth "WHAT?!" I yelled while maintaining a slight grin

"Yeah cuz we all know you make_ great _decisions Aus" Raphael was about to get a good ol' fashioned beat down. I thought Mikey was the one who couldn't shut his trap but he's just a spitting image of this lunatic.

"I do!" Now I was starting to not find these types of conversations funny anymore

"Yeah like when you decided to bring what's his name back here?" Casey…I see why Raphael wants to kill you.

"What?" It suddenly wasn't humorous in this room anymore. Leo looked at me then at Casey.

"Casey…what are you talking about?" I spoke through my closed teeth and fake smile.

"Yeah that kid Leo punched the snot out…OF!" Raphael slapped him square in the back, making him fall over onto the floor.

"Did you really marry this guy?" He asked April

She sighed "Apparently"

"What was he doing here?" Leo was on his feet and of course, getting up in my face. Like it's always MY fault somehow.

"Well you should know if you can read minds and stuff!" I crossed my arms and looked away.

Out of all the things I could be thinking about right now, I really wished Donatello was here. I pictured he's soft gentle face with its perfect features. I hadn't seen him in so long and I wondered if he was as heartbroken as I was about it.

Sometimes at night I would sneak up onto the roof and stare out over the lit city with nothing but the lights from buildings illuminating the sky. I imagined he was there with me, telling me about how things work and all that geeky stuff. Then he would scoot closer to me and hold my hand as I shivered in the spring time air. He would ask me about my future and what I wanted it be like but I always gave him the same answer.

"Austria are you listening to a thing I'm saying?" Leo brought me back from my daze.

"No not really" I smiled

"I know when you're zoning out Austria. Your eyes turn gray and you stare into space so don't try that with me" Such a know it all he was

"You got me all figured out Leonard! Maybe I can't help it!"

"It's Leonardo. Now answer my question"

"Why?"

"OOOOK!" Casey tried to step in but Leo used his body to isolate him form us. I didn't realize he had me corned against the wall. It was his way of intimidating people and if it's ever happened to you, you can understand how nervous it makes you feel. Did he really think that this was how he was ganna get me to talk? Pathetic

"I'm leaving" I tried to walk past but he slammed his hand against the wall to block my path "Don't kill me!" I screamed. I have no idea where that came from. He backed away and gave me some space. Good thing he did too, I felt like I was about to upchuck all over the place. "Please, just…" I sighed and walked out the door.

I know what you're thinking, I'm such an emotional drama queen who needs counseling and chill pills but you under estimate me my friend. I may be an orphan child who had an abusive home life, but there's one thing we all have in common. I pulled my hand out from under my shirt and looked at the green device that shimmered in my palm. If you get Leo mad enough, you could snatch anything from him, even his shell cell.

Of course I knew April was ganna spill about why Hunter was at her house, but that didn't really matter to me. I brought the device to life and looked through Leonardo's contacts. I located Donatello's number and hit the call button. I waited a few seconds, and then he picked up.

"Hey, Leo I'm glad you called. Could you ask April if…" a gentle voice rang through my ears and made my heart feel as light as air.

"This isn't Leo" I couldn't stop smiling. I probably looked like a retard to all the people on the streets.

"Who is this?" He really didn't know? That or he was messing with me. Fine, two can play at that game.

"This is Felicia, Leo like, left his phone at my house and I like, don't know who I should like, give it to" There was an awkward pause. I made my pitch higher so I sounded like one of those girls from Jersey Shore. "Like Hello?"

"Austria what are you doing"

"Danmnit!" We laughed over the phone. Talking with him seemed like a second nature. One of us always knew what to say to the other.

"How did you know?" My cheeks were starting to hurt from all the intense smiling.

"Well, the female voice kind of gave it away. Plus, Leo would never go to a girl's house…alone"

"He's at April's house right now. Isn't she a girl?" I asked

"She's married so that doesn't count and as far as I know, he's not alone. So If you don't mind me asking, if he's at April's house, where are you?"

"Canada" I nodded my head, even though he couldn't see it

"How's the weather up there?"

"Oh you know…it has its ups and downs" I almost ran into a light post from not paying attention to my surroundings

"Bring me back some of those maple leaves will yah?" I opened my mouth to say something but the phone beeped and said "Call ended"

"Dude!" I dialed his number again. It rang for about a minute then he picked up

"Look I don't want to hear from you until I get my maple leaves" He said

"I'm not in Canada you smart ass" I laughed

"Noooo really? Cuz I thought you were" He giggled. Yes… a teenage turtle giggled and it was frickin adorable.

"Ha-ha no I'm not. Sorry to disappoint you"

"You don't disappoint me. Except when you don't visit" I heard him shrug

"I want to! But you know Leo's gotta be a weenie head" A woman standing next to me looked over with a confused expression. Don't people say weenie head anymore?

"No one says Weenie head anymore" He laughed "We say fruitcake"

"Fruitcake?" I said with extreme curiosity

"Yeah like "Oh that Leo is such a fruitcake"" He said

"Thank you for that analogy" I was smiling like a clown again. If you put a dozen baby puppies in front of me on one side and Donatello on the other, Don would win the award for greatest amount cuteness.

"You're welcome. Now are you coming down or not?" How did he know? I guess it might have been obvious because of the way my voice gets high when I'm around him or obviously, talking with him.

"Well…if the master says it's ok"

He laughed and then I heard another voice coming from his end of the line. "Who's coming?" It was Mikey, who I actually missed. Imagine that. "WHO?" he yelled in a childish voice "No one Mikey go away" Don said on the side. "It's Austria isn't it? Tell her to come over while Leo and Raph aren't here! If yah know what I…UMPH!" I couldn't see what was going on, obviously, but I'm guessing innocent little Mikey has a dirty mind because I heard Don smack him somewhere on his body.

"Holy crap what's going on over there?" I tried to laugh it off since my voice sounded worried

"Nothing, Mikey's just being Mikey" I heard a struggle then someone must have fallen on the floor because that would explain the large thud I heard. "Lemme talk to her!" He yelled "No Mikey let go! OW!" There was complete silence for about 15 seconds.

"Hello?" Mikey answered. Great.

"Hello you" as much as I wanted to ask where Don was, I felt bad that he didn't get a lot of my attention.

"Hello YOU! I am sitting upon your boyfriend" He snickered. Michelangelo had changed the most over the last few months. He voice was deeper now and he didn't play video games and read comic books as much as he used to. He trained more and we saw less and less of him at night. I tried to ask him where he was going once, but he never told me. He had grown taller too, I think he's taller than Donnie now but I haven't seen them in so long so I'll get back to you on that one. The one thing that never changed about him was his repulsive addiction to pizza. Whenever anyone mentioned the American food he would throw a fit and wouldn't stop until he got a slice. I'm actually glad some part of his whacky personality was still intact.

"How's Life? Are you coming down? Huh Huh?"

"Aww do you miss me?" I teased

"YES!" He screamed so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. "I noticed you didn't deny it when I called Donnie your boyfriend!" He made kissing sounds and said "Oh Donnie I love you soooo much" in a girly tone.

"Says you. You've probably got what… five ex-girlfriends by now" There was a pause

"What?"

"You know, cuz you go out at night and no one knows where you go and you're probably going to the strip club or something"

"Something like that. Why you wanna come too?" I was taken aback. I was NOT expecting that response.

"Is that really where you're going?!" I yelled

"I aint tellin ya. You're not in the circle of trust! The circle…of trust" He repeated

I stopped walking. "Give Don the phone" and I didn't care if he's feelings were hurt either

"He's dead. I killed him. Who are you ganna marry now? Oh wait no one you'll be a widow" Me and Michelangelo had developed a frienemy which is a friendship…but your mean to each other but you know the other persons just joking and, it's complicated…

"Listen Picasso…"

"Woah Woah Woah…excuses me?"

"Picasso had many girlfriends!" see, I'm slightly intelligent

"How did _you _know that? I didn't even know that. How did you know that?"

"Because I'm awesome now give Don the phone" I demanded

"It's ok to deny death. You can come down here and we'll have a funeral" He hung up the cell and I grumbled after the screen flashed "Call ended." I liked the old Mikey better. This new and improved retard was too intelligent for my taste. I went into the nearest ally and pulled the top off of a manhole. I really didn't know how to get to their lair from here but I had my cell if I needed directions. I climbed down the ladder and landed in the sewer water, gross. I swear as I trampled through the mild current, I heard an extra pair of footsteps coming from somewhere behind me.

**Wow 3000 words…I guess I'm really into this! Things are going to pick up in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Donnie is my favorite turtle so writing this chapter was REALLY hard! You'll see why *Winkie Face***

: Chapter 3:

"Boss, I've confirmed the location of the turtles" Today was a big day for the Purple Dragon Trainees. Hun, their superior master, would award a special place in the gang to the first person to give any advice on Austria and the Turtle's where-a- bouts. This Trainee in particular was one of the more intelligent ones. What better way to find where the mutants lived then to follow the girl straight down. He had to admit, she wasn't too bright for a person her age.

"Excellent" Hun praised the Dragon over a headset that was strapped to the back of his head. "Now continue your pursuit and gather more information. I want every detail about that place down to where the cracks are in the walls. Got it?! This is your chance to prove yourself worthy."

"You got it boss. Should I engage the target when given the chance?" He asked his master

"NO! Return to me once you have the information, nothing more!"

"Yes sir" He crept up along the walls of the sewer, careful not to make any sounds. Good thing he wasn't one of those fatter, heavier trainees. His small stature made him perfect for this job in specific. As he was trailing off about how successful he was, he failed to notice the small dip on the floor. The front of his toe slipped of it just enough so he fell right over it. He didn't _fall_ but it took more power in the next step so he could catch himself and ultimately, splash water everywhere. "Shit"

Austria gasped and turned around. Her long, brown hair sat neatly on her shoulders but she tucked it behind her ear and out of her face. "Hello?" She called out. If she saw him, it could change the entire course of his mission. The girl took a few steps towards him so he sank deeper into the shadows to try and conceal himself. "Is someone there?" Suddenly, a rat jumped out from a crack in the wall and scampered across the shallow waters. She screamed, then sighed; "Oh it was just you" then she bent down on her knees and made little clicking sounds with her tongue

The rat sniffed the air and inched closer towards her until its wet nose was sniffing her fingers. "Hey little guy" It was nearly in the palm of her hand until something spooked it and it ran away. She giggled then stood up and continued walking down the dark tunnel.

"That was close" he thought to himself "Gotta be more careful" He slowly walked out of the shadows and continued his pursuit.

**: Austria's POV:**

Donatello had set up a secret door so the lair could be concealed from underground workers, and any other being that wonders the sewers, including me because I had totally forgotten where the switch to open the door was. "Does something always have to go wrong!?" I put my body up against the wall that I was pretty sure had the switch on it. I moved my arms up and down to try and feel for it. All I needed was some open space and I could just have taken off. "Damnit Donnie!" I'm pretty sure keys were invented already. Why not just be simple!?

I inched along the wall like a lizard, knocking along on it for a hollow spot. This was so gross, who knows how high those waters can get. I kept crawling until my hand stroked an unfamiliar texture. I couldn't see a darn thing so who knows what it was. But when I knocked on it, it was hollow.

"Ow" it spoke

"AHH!" I screamed as loud as I could and fell on my butt right into the dirty sewer water. My yelp echoed through the tunnels and made rats scurry across the floor. I curled up into a ball with my hands over my face. I was seriously afraid of the dark and all the hideous creatures that lived in it. Suddenly, a light flickered on me. I looked up and stared into the beam with one hand shading my eyes.

"I guess you'll need more clothes now" I recognized the voice and let myself uncurl from my wimpy position. "Don't worry, I forget where the button is all the time" Mikey helped me up off the ground and pushed a small brick into the wall. There were clicking sounds and then the wall separated into two, revealing the lair.

"I was about to check there anyway" I scuffed my feet and walked in

"Sure you were" I heard him chuckle and then the doors screeched shut. "You didn't bring flowers?" he asked, after putting his flashlight away.

"For what?" I turned around and glared into his eyes

"Don's funeral! What kind of Girlfriend are you?" He laughed

"If I'm dead then this must be the afterlife" Don walked across the small bridge that separated his "Island" from the homeland. He was carrying a cup of coffee in his hand and a newspaper in the other. He stopped in front of me and smiled. "Where's my maple leaves?" I laughed and wrapped my arms around his torso. He put his stuff down on the table close by and returned the embrace. The tips of my fingers couldn't touch on the other side of his shell so it took all the effort I had to keep him close to me.

I rested my head on his plastron as he rubbed my back. I swear I could just fall asleep right here if it wasn't for…

"AWWW" Mikey bowling balled us so we all tumbled onto the floor, one on top of the other. "Where's my love!?" He whined

"You were next! Now get off me! You weigh like 800 pounds!" I felt bad for Donnie who was stuck under the both of us. Maybe I told you or maybe I didn't but I wasn't light. I know most girls are like "Oh you know I'm watching my weight and stuff" but me, well I'm just like "Yo bitch pass those peanut butter, chocolate cupcakes!"

Strangely enough, Don was able to do some kind of maneuver that managed to throw Michelangelo and I off him in 3 Nano seconds. I landed on top of him and it took me a minute to realize the awkward position we were in. I jumped, dusted off my jeans and cleared my throat like nothing had just happened.

"That was fun…" He laughed, still on the ground. I looked over at Don, expecting him to be laughing too but he wasn't so I immediately dropped the smile from my face.

"You ok? I know we're really heavy" I patted his should…ok; I rubbed his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Don?"

"Can I talk to you?" He smiled politely

"Of course, what's wrong?" I asked but He hesitated

"Alone?" He leaned past me and frowned at Michelangelo

"What did I do!?" He was finally up off the ground; dusting off his knees. I told you I would let you know who was taller and let me tell you, Mikey was still a little shrimp. "Oh I see how it is. You don't trust me with your romantic bologna. Fine if that's how you want it to be" He pouted

"Mikey please, for me?" I turned around and made puppy eyes at him

"Definitely not"

Don reached his hand behind his shell and started to pull out his Bow Staff. Almost instantly, the orange clad turtle squealed and ran up the stairs.

"Works every time" He giggled "Come on. This way" he grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall into a small room that I'm guessing was his due to all the mechanical junk and stuff. You can imagine what was running through my mind right about now as he sat me down on his bed..."I want to show you something"

Danmit!...I mean PHEW!

"Sure what is it?" He went over to a small desk and pulled out my Nikon camera.

"I was wondering where that went!" No I really wasn't

"I asked you if I could use it" He tightened his lips

"Oh…did you? Well it doesn't matter. You don't need to ask"

"But I did…" I got the feeling he didn't want me to think he stole from me

"I believe you Hehe. So what's up?" I scooted closer to him when he sat down next to me

"Well…" He sighed "I thought your father might have left some stuff on here for you. That's why I wanted to look at it. I found one thing but that's it. The rest, I'm guessing, is stored away in that lockbox he was talking about the day he…" Don paused

"Died?" I finished his sentence for him "You can say it. I'm not that upset about it anymore"

"I just didn't want to offend you, but why I'm just telling you this now is because…" He stopped again and looked at the floor

"What is it?" I grabbed his hand

"I was waiting until the others forgot about it so I could take you back myself" When he looked up at me, I had to look away to prevent myself from jumping on him and...You know. HEHEHE. Focus Austria Focus! I can't focus when IM ALONE IN A ROOM WITH THE MOST ADORABLE CREATURE ALIVE., Emphasis on _ALONE_.

"Don I…" My heart was pounding. There is no way in hell you should be this close to someone your madly in love with and feel like God is watching over you saying "don't even think about. I know what you want to do right now" I hadn't heard a word Don just said and all I knew was that he pulled me and did the one thing I tried to prevent myself from doing. At first I resisted, still trying to digest what was happening here, but eventually I loosened up my muscles and let him pull me flat against his plastron, except for a specific WOMANLY BODY PART that stuck out and kept us that much further apart. I think he caught on or something because he turned me slightly to the side so we were as close as we could get.

We weren't kissing, yet. But my face was touching his and I could feel the material of his bandana rub up against my nose. It was soft, yet ragged from wear and tear. My body was so shrimp like compared to his. He had his arms wrapped around me and kept mine strapped down to my sides. I could feel that his fingers were locked behind me, preventing escape. (But who would want to escape THIS)

"You have beautiful eyes" I couldn't think of anything else to say, that's how entranced I was. It's like time around us slowed down so fast it came to a complete stop. The earth stopped turning, the moon stopped orbiting, and it was just me and him, alone with nothing better to do.

"Their white" He whispered

"I'm sure they're not white" I pulled my right arm out of the cocoon like embrace, and brought it up to his olive green face. I grabbed the corner of his bandana and slowly pulled it off, revealing two dark brown eyes. "Why do your eyes turn white when you have this on?"

"I'm not sure" He smiled down at me

"Since when are _you_ not sure?" I tapped his face lightly with the purple bandana still in my hand.

"About a minute ago" His beautiful eyes were starting to drowse off and I couldn't help but feel the same in mine as well. As much as I wanted to fall asleep here with him, all good things _always_ come to an end. Eventually, Leo and Raph would return and we would have to snap back to reality.

"You know what this means don't you?" I grinned

"Hmm?" His eye lids got closer and closer together, like a baby trying to fall asleep

"Going weeks without seeing you isn't ganna work anymore" I said. He chuckled and pulled me in tighter. His body helped keep mine warm that for some reason was shivering. I'm going to be honest when I tell you this, the event that followed was unexpected, but I was ready for it. He didn't have to move very far to meet his lips with mine since we were snuggled up together already. I need all of you now, to go out and kiss a turtle and tell me how un-natural it feels. Now, go out and kiss a _mutant_ turtle and tell me how amazing it is. Just make sure it's not Donatello.

I had never kissed anyone before but trust me, it's so natural and you instantly know how to do it the right way. The only thing I didn't know was what parts of his body were more sensitive to touch. When I slowly placed my hand on his thigh, he twitched and pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have done that" he grabbed the bandana that was laying on the bed and put it back over his eyes, concealing their brown pigments once more. I was sad it was over so soon but I hopped this wouldn't be the last time he pulled me to the side and brought me into a daze I never wanted to leave. I leaned back and lied down on the springy bed. "Are you alright?" He rubbed my ankle with his three fingered hand.

"That…was...amazing. You're a natural" I can't believe I just said that. Don blushed and looked away but he had nothing to be embarrassed about.

"So what were you trying to say earlier?"

"Um…I can't remember" he chuckled. Romance does a number on your head people. "Oh um…about the thing" He snapped his fingers in the air "What was it"

"Oh yeah! The thing! Now I remember" I grabbed one of his pillows and chucked it at his face. Of course being a ninja, he dodged it like it was nothing.

"It was…the lockbox! I was going to take you back so we could grab it. Maybe some of your birthing files are in there. I'm really antsy to get my hands on those things" At first he was satisfied with his sentence but then he tightened his lips into a smile and looked down. I flipped over onto my stomach and started cracking up into the bed sheets.

"You know what I meant" He slapped the back of my calves lightly. I suddenly heard him gasp and jump up off the bed. I turned back over and sat up after something in the room started beeping.

"What's wrong?" I was ready for a bomb to explode or something

"Perimeter breach" He sat down at his small desk where an even smaller laptop was hooked up. It showed several even even smaller screens and the images appeared to be the sewers at different angles. He typed a few things in so one of the smaller screens took up the whole area. In the image, a dark figure was seen walking through the shallow waters.

"Did you walk here alone?" he asked

"Yeah?"

"I think, you may have been followed" He tried his best to keep a calm tone.

"That's not Leo or Raph?" I was going to mentally kill myself if I was careless enough to lead someone down here.

"No, they know where the alarms are, they wouldn't set them off" He continued to type into the computer.

"How come I didn't set them off then?"

Don looked up at me and grinned. "You did"

"Oh well…" I walked back and sat down on the edge of the bed

"It's ok; it's not your fault. I can take care of this guy" he hopped up out of his chair and headed towards the door. I jumped up as well and followed him into the hallway.

"Hey guys" Mikey was eating a slice of pizza at the table "What's the rush?"

"We might have a perimeter breach. Come on let's check it out Mikey" He drew his Bow Staff and opened the door to the lair.

"What about me?" I put my hands on my hips

"You're a woman" Mike snickered until Don hit him in the head with his Staff

"Stay here with Master Splinter. If anyone comes in, hide" He and Mikey took off out the door. It closed behind them with an ear cracking _thump_. What good was I ganna do trapped in this place? Stand here and look pretty? I know he was just looking out for me but he had to learn that I was an important part of this team too.

I sighed and held my fingertips to my mouth. I smiled and squealed like a little girl. Normally I would be seriously pissed about being left behind, but right now, I'm still trying to imagine what the next time would be like, when Don and I got some more time alone.

**R-E-V-I-E-W-S leaving tips is just the best!**

**I was SOO uncomfortable writing all the mushy love stuff but eventually, I started LOVING it. Was it too weird? Or do you guys like all the romantic yummies? I personally…LOVE IT. It's really fun to write!**


	4. Chapter 4

: Chapter 4: (Donatello's POV)

The sewers were smellier then I remembered. I had been cooped up in the lair so long I completely forgot that it smells like death down here. Michelangelo and I treaded through the thick, mucked waters to the spot where I had seen the apparition on my surveillance camera.

"It was probably just a rat!" He hated coming on missions with me. He loved going on missions just not ones with me because I always took extra time to observe the scene and gather important data.

"Rat's don't walk on two legs Mikey" I turned around and pointed my finger in his face. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut "I know sensei's a rat. He is also the_ only _rat down here, better yet in the entire world, and he wasn't walking through here, he was in his room. Your opinion has been ruled out" I turned back around and continued walking forward.

Once we jumped out of the shallow water and onto the walkway, we used flashlights to scan the floor for any signs of tracks. Well I did anyway.

"Here's the spot where I saw it" I set my duffel bag on the ground and I bent down and touched the floor with my hand

"Good we found it. Can I go home now?"

"No. Hand me the…" I forgot Mikey wasn't intelligent so I would have to use small words when I needed his help. "The Thermometer"

"What's it look like?" I heard my things clashing around in my bag

"Never mind" I took it away from him and pulled out my thermo heat detector, that's the basic name for it. I invented it so I could scan certain small areas for drastic changes in temperature. If someone walked by here, their body would be letting off greater amounts of heat since it was colder in the sewers anyway. I levitated the small square device over the ground and waited. After about 30 seconds, it gave me a reading of 58GTR x34. That means there was a 34% change in temperature in the last hour (Not that you care) and Austria arrived at our lair about 2 hours ago. That means, someone else was walking through here. I ruled out the possibility of animals because only the non-mutant rats live down here and their internal body heat isn't strong enough to make much of a difference.

"Well!?" Mikey leaned over my shoulder and looked at the screen of my device "What does that mean?"

"It means we have an intruder" I picked up my bag and put my detector away. I stood up and flashed my light around the area to look for any more signs that could have been left by whoever it was.

"Maybe it's just a construction worker" he rolled his eyes and sat down on the walkway

"I checked online for any work that was supposed to be done down here and didn't find anything" Nothing is better than proving Michelangelo wrong. Well, proving Einstein or Newton wrong would be cool too though.

"Well no one's here, can we just head back now?" He smacked the back of his head against the wall out of boredom but whined and rubbed it after words. Good thing I have enough brains for the both of us. I had to agree with him though. We weren't just going to camp out here and wait for the guy to show up with a big sign that says "Here I am."

"Alright let's head back. We will just have to be extra careful" I helped him up off the ground and then we started to head back.

"Ew what's that smell?" He smacked his hand over his face and gaged.

"I don't smell anything" I sniffed the air

"That's probably cuz you dealt it man!"

"No wait I smell it! It smells like…cologne" I waved my hand in front of my face to try and dissolve the scent.

"You don't need to smell good to win women Donnie" He patted my back

"Did you just compliment me?" I looked at his confused face

"Did I? Well, you're my favorite brother so, yeah I guess I did" He nodded his head and continued walking

"Really?!" I ran up to his side with a huge smile on my face. This was just the best day ever.

"Yeah, Leo's an ass; Raph's a scary ass…your cool. Plus, were the only ones who seem to have romantic feelings" I almost fell over laughing when he said that.

"You have romantic feelings? For who?" We stopped again at the end of the walkway where we would have to begin walking through the water to get back to the lair.

"No one" It was too dark to see his face expression but the sound of his voice told me he was lying.

"Is it Austria? I won't be mad" Mikey and I were closer than I was with Leo or Raph. We tried not to have too many heart-to-heart conversations but on the rare occasions that we did, they were awkward and only lasted a few minutes.

"Dude, I just ate lunch not make me throw it back up" He held his hand on his stomach and moaned. "I figured you knew a thing or two about that kind of stuff considering you had the hots for April and all"

"How did this conversation suddenly become about me? And why didn't you tell me you liked someone earlier?"

"I don't like anyone! Oh my Shit you don't understand" I heard him jump into the water

"Mikey come on I'm trying to understand" I grabbed what I guessed was his arm and pulled him back

"I don't know…" He was seriously legit. I never thought I would be sitting down with my baby brother and talking about what that tingly feeling in your stomach is when you see a pretty girl. Oh God, I hope we weren't ganna talk about the _other_ thing that happens when you see a pretty girl. "Raph was making fun of me the other day. About my voice changing and shit"

I laughed "It hasn't changed that much Mikey. And don't listen to him. He's just jealous that's all."

"It's my good looks isn't it?"

"Oh yeah. You're the sexiest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle out there" I hated lying

"Aww thanks Donnie boy. You're so nice even if you do smell really bad"

"That's not me" I noticed the stench was starting to get stronger at this end of the walkway. "Did you hear that?" A turtles hearing isn't the greatest but were ninja's…we could hear a pin drop onto a bed sheet.

"Yeah…" I heard the chains of his nun-chucks clang together as he pulled them out of his sash. "We're not alone…I've always wanted to say that! HEHE" He squealed "I've also always wanted a reason to say "Elementary, my dear Watson.""

"Mikey focus!" I swear he had the attention span of an infant child. We stood absolutely still for about a minute so we could try and listen for any other noises. Our sensei taught us to keep our bodies absolutely still and hold our breath whenever we tried to use our sense of hearing. He said, and I can back it up with research, that when the body's nerves are all on alert and the other senses are handicapped, like sight when you're in a dark sewer tunnel, our hearing could be increased by 78%

"What exactly did you hear my dear Watson?"

"I thought I heard someone breathing…and no it wasn't you. Let's scope out the area but stay close. We don't know what were up against" I took about two steps and found a small opening in the wall. When I peeked in I could just barely make out the faint image of what looked like a human structure. I lifted my bow staff closer to my head and poked it straight into the darkness. Something smacked it away

"Mikey over here!" he was at my side in 3 nanoseconds. I pointed into the darkness. 'Someone's in there" I tapped the back of his shell twice which was his and I's personal signal for "Follow my lead." "Did you bring my lighter and that bottle of gas I told you to grab?"

"Was it the big red one with the words "flammable" on it?"

"That's the one. Here let me have it. I think there are just some rats in here so we can just smoke them out with the flames"

"Won't that kill them Donatello?" Mikey said with a bit too much obviousness

"Well some might die but there's nothing we can do about it" I shrugged my shoulders and smiled

"DON'T!" A male voice screamed

"Gotcha! Come out of there with your hands over your head!" Mikey screamed

"OK Ok!" His voice sounded strangely familiar. First I saw a boot, then a pair of jeans and then a plaid shirt. I didn't recognize him at first but I could remember anyone who had ever ticked me off and that's exactly what this guy did about 3 months ago.

"Hey…he looks familiar" Mikey was still trying to figure it out

"Really? Cuz I have no idea who you guys are" He had his hands open, palms facing us, way above his head. "Can I go home now?"

"No. First your ganna tell us what you're doing down here in the middle of the day" I poked his ribs with the end of my Bo Staff.

"I could ask you the same thing Hulk" He grinned. Usually people scream and run away when they see us but he was strangely comfortable with our abstract appearances. "I was…just taking a shortcut"

"A shortcut to where?" I asked with all seriousness

"Hurt town!?" Mikey got up in his face and I could just make out his attempted intimidating expression.

"Chill out man! I'm not doing any harm. I didn't know this was your_ domain" _He slivered down like a snake. Either Mikey was in a really bad mood or he had enough of this guy because he took his left hand and smacked the guy right in the ribs with his nun-chucks. He fell to the floor and groaned in pain.

"What'd ya do that for!?"

"I don't like your face!"

"Mikey…chill" I grabbed the bottom of his shell and pulled him away from the little sissy crying on the floor. "Get up. I don't wanna see your face here again got it?" I lifted him up by his shirt and poked him in the chest. I was still trying to figure out who he was and it would drive me crazy until I figured it out.

"I'm sorry I'm just trying to find Aust….ronomy" I cocked my head

"Astronomy? In the sewers? Well that makes no sense. Wait what's astronomy?" I heard the wheels in Mikeys brain start to turn. There were times like these when I wish I had something to smack him with. Oh wait I do.

"OW!" He rubbed the top of his head where my Bo Staff had made contact with him.

"He's looking for Austria you Knucklehead. I remember who you are now too. You're that guy Leo kicked the hell out of."

"I don't have to tell you anything"

I threw him across my shoulder and into the sewer water. When he tried to get up and run away I jumped on top of him and held my staff over his throat. "You better talk or your ganna wake up in a world of pain" I'm usually not this aggressive but Austria was in the question and if her life was in danger, it was no more Mr. Nice Turtle.

"Now talk"

"Ok…I was concerned about Austria and I wanted to know where she was going that's all!" He wrapped his hands around my staff and tried to push it away.

"That's not why" I rocked my body forward just enough so it went deeper into his neck. "You're making this harder than it has to be" I picked him up and slammed his back against the wall. "Tell me why you're following her"

**: Austria's POV:**

Of course Master Splinter put me to work. I had to pick out all the frayed ends in his bamboo mat then pick out all the ones that were darker than the others! I mean seriously, if you wanna torture me just send me back to April's place.

"28,29,30" I counted the pieces as I plucked them out but every time master splinter walked by…"356, 357, 358" He eventually caught on and sipped tea while he _watched_ me do it.

"What's the point of this?!" I finally exploded

"It teachers you the mind set of Patience" He said in a slow ancient tone

"Hell yeah! I'm going to shit bricks if I have to pull out one more tiny thread of bamboo!" I pinched my pointer and thumb together to demonstrate the smallness of the strands. He raised his walking stick and smacked me on the head.

"You will take this seriously!" He slammed the end of the stick on the ground. I ever so quickly got back down on my knees and continued plucking the mat. I bet if Leo was here he would be enjoying this, as in enjoying my pain and suffering.

"359, 360…" He smacked me again "What!?"

"Start again"

I moaned really loud and fell over onto my stomach "1, 2, 3…"

"Well-Well-Well-Well-Well" Said a voice that was unmistakably Raphael's. "What do we got here?"

I quickly jumped up off the floor and tucked my hair behind my ears. Coming in behind him was a very pissed Leonardo.

"Oh, how did I know I would find you here?" He walked past me and went into the kitchen

"You're not mad that I'm here?" I walked over to him and sat down at the table.

"No I am" he poured milk into a small glass and handed it to me. Then he poured another for himself. "Where are Don and Mike?"

I took a while and sipped the milk nice and slow like. Leo sighed and leaned against the counter in frustration. I swallowed hard then rubbed my arm across my mouth.

'Well…"

"Get to the point!"

"Geezes! There was a "Security breach" as Don described it. Then he took Mikey to find out what was lurking but I told him it was probably just you and Raph but he insisted to go and look. Do you know that he wouldn't let me go with him?!" I opened my arms like "WTH" and bounced in my seat.

"I couldn't imagine why" He rolled his eyes and walked away.

"I'll have you know Don would have _loved_ for me to go with him if the mission wasn't so dangerous" I stood in his path and smirked. I got a little on edge when he grinned back like he knew _exactly_ what was going on between me and his younger brother.

"You know…you are in _my_ territory and I can and _will _kick you out if need be" he patted my shoulder and walked away. This was one of those "Duh" moments when you get burned and totally weren't expecting it. So I decided to quick change the subject before anyone else noticed.

"So…I can stay down here then?"

"If you stay down here it's for good. You will never see the light of day ever again" He sat down on the mat next to Splinter and started to pluck the fibers from the damn thing. Oh Leo, he changed a bit too over the last 3 months. Besides being able to do a bunch of freaky, ninja magic, he seemed to be more intelligent in terms of manipulating people to get answers he wanted. Some might say "You're not supposed to do that to people that's mean!" but he never did it for his own benefit. He always had a good reason for what he was doing. Our relationship was…awkward. He was super nice to me at times and then at others he would be punishing me like he did at April's apartment. Other than that he was still the over protective, all up in your business leader.

I sometimes felt sympathy for him, very rarely, but I felt it. I especially felt sorry for him the most when his brothers did stupid things to make his life that much more complicated, for example, when Michelangelo and Donatello waltz in the door, carrying Hunter limp in their arms.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN**


	5. Chapter 5

**Reviews are appreciated! For those of you who do review THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

: Chapter 5:

I've never in the history of my relationship with these turtles, ever seen Raph move so quickly and pounce on top of an innocent human being then start beating the crap out of him as I just did. You wanna know the worst part? Leo let him! Well I don't know if he "let him" but he certainly didn't try to stop the carnage.

"Get off him Raph!" So I had to jump in and save my poor classmate. I got a running start then threw my body on top of him at a good enough angle so we both went rolling over onto the ground. "What are you doing? It's Hunter!"

"Why did you bring him here!?" He was up off the ground and already had Donatello pinned against the wall. Poor Donnie was probably about ready to break down crying he looked so afraid.

"Leave him alone!" Once again, I rammed the temperamental mutant. This time we rolled farther into the lair's open dojo. Then of course he pulled out his Sais on me. "Oh...Bring it on" here's my chance to show off even though I had 0 ninja training and was probably ganna get my ass kicked.

"Guys stop!" Oh nice of you to join in Leo when I'm about to turn Raphael inside out. Splinter was over by Donatello, helping him off the ground and demanding that his son stopped us at once. Mikey had a firm grip on Hunter, preventing him from escaping Via Leonardo's orders.

"Raph relax!" We slowly started to circle around the room

"Don't ya realize this puts all us at risk!?"

"No it doesn't your over reacting!" Raph suddenly stopped moving and gave me a dirty look.

"I'm ova reactin?!" Why do I get a feeling I shouldn't have said that. Leo by now was standing outside the circle and telling us to stand down. His words were just blurs running through my ears though. All my focus was on the hothead turtle as he ran towards me with his weapons at the ready.

"Raph don't!" Right when Leo was about to step in, somebody else took his place. Don landed in front of me and blocked his brother's attack with his staff then used it to sweep him off his feet. He fell hard to the ground and growled viciously.

"What kinda brother sticks up for a girl over his own flesh and blood?!" Raph face was becoming the dark red hue of his bandana. I stood behind Donatello and shut my eyes in embarrassment. No matter how big of a douche he could be, Raph was right and I needed to fix this before it got any worse.

"Your right Raph" I said. Don looked back at me in horror. I just stared at him and shook my head until he could understand my feelings without me having to say a word.

"I knew he looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I'd seen him before. Then he mentioned knowing Austria and I didn't know what to do with him" Don confessed. He sheathed his bow staff and helped his brother of the ground who was starting to cool down miraculously.

"Well I'm glad you brought him here so I could finish him off" He pounded his fists together. When I looked over at Leo to get his opinion on the matter, he was just staring into space, like someone had taken his soul and left an empty corpse behind.

"Is…Leo ok?" I'll be honest; I was a little freaked out.

"It's a Leo thing" Don replied

"Since when?" I couldn't help but laugh as I waved my hand in front of his face.

"Since he learned all his "Ninja Magic"" Raph made quotations in the air with his fingers

"So what's he doing?" I whispered.

"We don't know. He never tells us which is really frustrating considering I would love to do some research on it" Don frowned.

"Austria! Get away from him!" Splinter yelled from across the room. Suddenly the corpse came to life and grabbed my hand. I screamed so loud I probably woke up sleeping people all the way on the other side of the earth. He collapsed onto the ground with uneven, gasping breaths. For some reason, I felt all my energy drain right out of me and I could no longer stand.

"Uh oh" Raph ran over to us and knelt down beside his brother and then Don did the same with me. "Don…"

"Umm…" He cupped his hand on one side of my face. "I think Leo did something to her. Are you ok?" He leaned down closer to me and moved his thumb up and down my cheek.

"Yeah…I think so" I shut my eyes for just a moment, trying to get ahold of myself but when I woke up, I wasn't in the dojo and Donnie wasn't beside me keeping me safe. Blankets were over my body and the room was only lit my a few dim candles. I felt strong again, strong enough to sit up off the ground at least. I looked around and recognized the dark room. It was Master Splinter's mediation chamber.

"Hello?" I whispered

"Austria" Sitting over in the corner on a mat was Splinter. How did I not see him there the first time?

"What's going on?"

"Leonardo accidently drained you of energy when he was trying to calm Raphael"

"He was trying to calm Raph, Mentally?"

"Yes, he has the ability to do so. He went into a different state of mind which is very powerful on the body, hence why he collapsed after words."

"So what does that have to do with me?"

"When he came back, his reflexes kicked in when you were wavy your hand in front of him carelessly"

"Oh so this is my fault?!" I slammed my hands on into my lap

"Pay attention! He could have killed you with that much energy and I need to know why you're still alive. That is why I have ordered you all to return to your mother's house to retrieve the files." He stood up from his chair and knelt down next to me. There was a bowl of water in front of him that he dipped the tips of his fingers into. He then held his hand over my forehead and let the droplets fall onto my face.

"How did you know about the files?" I suddenly found my voice at nothing more than a whisper

"Donatello told me but you should not become angry at him. Once I declared you alive I told him the same thing I told you. He went on to tell me about your history of incredible healing." He used a warm towel to pat the top of my head. I found myself staring into space again but Splinter quickly brought me back.

"How long have I been out?"

"5 hours. I have heard of great warriors who survived such a transfer of energy from one master to the other but they were put into comas for the rest of their lives. Consider yourself lucky my child"

"Is Leo alright?" I asked. He sighed and put the towel in the bowl of water.

"He has not yet awakened. I am the most concerned for his life for he does not have the same abilities as you do"

I held my hand over my mouth as I gasped for air. My heart began to beat so hard it sent flashes of pain all through my body. If my carelessness would be the cause of Leonardo's death I would never forgive myself. I felt my eyes start to swell and small drops of water began to fall down my cheeks.

"Is there anything we can do?"

Splinter stood up off the floor and put his hands through his sleeves. "Donatello believes he may have found a way, but he will need your help. When you feel well enough, please join us in the dojo" He bowed slightly then walked towards a pair of bamboo dividers. He moved on to the side and walked out of the room. As soon as he left I threw that bowl of water as far as I could. It slammed against a wall and shattered into a million pieces. I grabbed the blanket and sunk my nails deep through the threads until it began to tear apart. I couldn't believe this was happening! How could I have been so stupid!

"ARGH!" I threw the blanket into the broken pieces of glass. If Don needed me to kill myself to save Leonardo, I would do it in a heartbeat and I would do it myself.

**: Third POV:**

The environment outside of Splinter's chamber was no different than the one inside. Don had to chain Raphael inside the dojo to keep him from slaughtering Hunter, or as Austria had said his name was. Mikey was hanging upside down of a beam on the ceiling and spinning his nun-chucks around like a helicopter. He was just as depressed as his brothers were, they couldn't stop thinking about their brother who was nearly lifeless in the other room.

"This bites" He said to himself

"I know Mikey but we're ganna get through this. Leo will be ok as long as my plan works" Don was below him on his island hooking up wires to his huge computer. "I'm going to see if Austria's healing ability can be transferred over to Leo"

"And if it can't?" He jumped down from the ceiling and landed next to his brother "What'll happen to Leo if it doesn't work?!"

"Relax Mike; let's take one step at a time" Don's hands were shaking uncontrollably. He had trouble hooking the wires into the right spots because in the back of his mind, he had no idea what would become of their leader if this plan didn't work. He still didn't even know if Austria was alright. After she passed out splinter had taken her away and forbidden any of his brothers from disturbing her and that's when they found Leo unconscious as well.

When splinter came back, he took him to another room and didn't emerge until a few hours later. Raph thought their Sensei was probably trying to heal his body the old fashioned way, with steam and mental exercises. They knew it hadn't worked though because their Sensei emerged with nothing to say except to ask Donnie how Austria had survived. That's when he came clean and told their father everything down to the plan to retrieve a set of files locked away at her house. Then he told him the plan about transferring Austria's energy signature over to their brother to help heal his body.

"It is not his body that is destroyed" Splinter had said "It is his spirit. I fear your friend Austria may have caused this due to her unique abilities. Your brother could not have handled her power after already being drained from trying to stop Raphael. She destroyed his mind from the inside by accident." At least their sensei knew the young girl hadn't done it on purpose.

"Earth to Donnie!" Mike was poking him with his finger

"What?" He snapped back

"Austria is awake. She will join us when she is ready" Splinter had his furry hand on Don's shoulder "Then you must tell her everything"

Everything felt wrong. He felt like they were using her to bring Leonardo back and there was no way he would do it. Now it came down to one decision. Keep his relationship with Austria, or let his brother die.

"I won't do it unless she agrees" Don's response shocked his father

"Your brother's life is in peril and you chose the girl over him?" Splinter scolded

"No that's not what I said!"

"I think she will agree if you tell her it's all her fault" Mikey butted in

"You're not helping…" The purple clad turtle hit his brother over the head. "I'm not going to force her to cooperate if she doesn't want to. That's a violation of her rights as a human being plus this also might put her life in danger so she has every reason not to help" He was finally getting through to them as they sighed and nodded their heads.

"You are right my son. The only thing we can do know…is wait"

"Or we could kill Hunter!" Raph was struggling to break free from the chains

"Donatello…why is your brother chained to the wall?"

"He was trying to kill you know who" Mikey pointed to the boy who was sitting at the chair in the kitchen…tied to it.

"I feel so special" He said, shooting the furious turtle a grin. It only made him angrier and growl louder.

"When I get outta here I'm ganna take you apart limb from limb!" he snarled

Hunter smirked with satisfaction. With Leonardo out of the picture, all he had to do was take out these three and their old father and then Austria was his. Hun had told him not to engage the subjects but he didn't care. He got a thrill when the oldest collapsed to the floor and he wanted to keep taking them out himself. He wanted to show Hun he could do it on his own and earn a higher rank amongst the Purple Dragons.

There was only one problem. If Austria helped revive Leo then his job would become a bit more complicated. No, he couldn't do this on his own, he needs to return to Hun and tell him now is the best time to attack when the eldest is useless. What good is a ninja team without their leader to guide them?


	6. Chapter 6

: Chapter 6:

"Ah I can't take it!" I swept my hand across my desk and sent all the equipment and papers flying everywhere. Most of the glass tools shattered instantly while the stacks of papers danced in the air until finally settling in random spots on the floor. "I can't do this…" I threw my elbows on the table and sunk my head in between them. I reached my free hands behind my head and pulled on the strings of my bandana. Strange wimping sounds escaped through my lips until they evened out into one clean whine.

The noises attracted my brothers to my room where the busted in and found me crying on my desk.

"Donnie you alright?" Raph was the first one to jump over the glass and land perfectly next to me. I felt his strong hand grasp my shoulder and squeezed repeatedly. My body rocked back and forth with every pull until I decided not to say a word until he finished messaging my aching shoulders.

"Geeze bro your taking this really hard" I heard Mikey begin to pick up my belongings off the floor in an effort to calm me. Not even their small acts of kindness could stop my mind from spinning in thousands of un-ending circles.

"When are we leaving?" I finally whispered after a few more minutes of silence and once my shoulders were ready to work properly again.

"Once Austria gets up cuz we're ganna need her to show us where she lives so we can get those files." Raph spoke with a soft tender voice, something uncommon to his race of hotheads. I think somewhere in his mind he knew I was the only one who could figure out this antidote that we're trying to make for our unconscious brother. I shouldn't say it's all my doing though. April and Casey came by as soon as they heard the news. Thankfully, April and I were practically identical in terms of intelligence (And only intelligence.) I told her about my idea to transfer Austria's energy signatures over to Leonardo and she said it sounded obtuse but was worth a shot.

"She's not up yet?" I lifted my head from my elbows and leaned back in my chair. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah Bro she's fine. I heard she trashed Sensei's chamber though" He chuckled

"Yeah she went all hulk on it man" Mikey held up his arms and spoke in a low modulation "I am Austria…FEAR ME! AUSTRIA SMASH!"

"Very funny Michelangelo"

His eyes went as large as Frisbee's and his face…well, it was priceless. He slowly turned around with his hands still in the air until he saw Austria shaking her head at him.

"Up so soon?" He smiled and dropped his arms

"Aus you're alright!" Raph left my side and raced over to her. I jumped out of my seat and flipped right over him and embraced her before he could. I wouldn't say it was an embrace; it was more like a "She's mine!" kind of thing and I caught myself smiling for the first time in 7 hours. My arms had trapped hers to the side of her body so I could suspend her in the air and run. Eventually Raph's "Superior endurance," or as he says, caught up with us until we were all doggie piled on the floor and then of course Mikey had to full on body slam all of us. We laughed for a while about it but eventually the feeling of emptiness set in until we were just sitting on the floor moping. It just didn't feel right without Leonardo.

"Now what?" Mikey said

"Sorry to rush yah Aus, but now that yah awake we gotta set out for Brooklyn" Raph got back on his feet and helped us up off the floor.

"So who made you temporary leader?" Mikey said

"Well…your out of the question, Don's the brains and he's got enough to worry about." Raph smiled and patted my shell

"What about Austria?!"

"Uh…" He hesitated, unsure of what to say to that statement.

"Mikey don't be ridiculous" She tucked her long brown hair behind her ear and tapped her toe on the floor. "I do want to say a few things though. I have every right to go with you on this mission because I realize I'm the reason this happened." I instantly held up my finger and went to protest but she shunned me and continued "I need you all to recognize that too…please"

She looked at Raphael as if for him to agree with her: He nodded to an extent and then looked at me with sympathy. Then Austria set her gaze on Michelangelo who hesitated at first and looked down at the floor.

"Mikey…"

"Yeah ok" He nodded his head as well but displayed disturbance by shuffling his feet on the ground. I knew my brothers like the back of my hand. They were lying when they agreed with her and they knew it wasn't her fault but to save time and emotional distress, they were going along with it…for now. I on the other hand was not so easily persuaded. I didn't care how long it took us to get to Brooklyn, I would not agree to this.

"Don…" she was doing that puppy eye thing I hated so much. I had to look away in fear that I would give in to it and let such a burden drag on her.

'It's not your fault. You can grill me all you want, I'm not letting you think that" I tried to keep my voice firm so she would understand the reality of the situation but I knew Austria, I knew she would argue and fight me. There was too much good in her for such a thought to be true though and I had the right to tell her that. "I'm sorry." Being strict was one thing, staying strict was another.

"It was my fault and I know you think the same"

I had to take a few seconds and let that sink in. She thinks that I, the person who cares so much about her, think she is the reason my oldest brother is lying on a bed in the other room unconscious.

"I'm not arguing with you Austria. There are more important things we can waste our breath on" I tried to sound as kind as possible but the clock was ticking and we we're wasting time fighting about such a stupid topic. "If you really want to help Leo, taking blame isn't the way to do it. We need to go to Brooklyn and we need those files." The sympathetic, kind-hearted Donatello is going to have to wait.

"What about Hunter? We can't leave Splinter here alone with Leo and that shithead" Mikey pointed over to the boy sitting in the kitchen

"You can start by letting him go! He's not ganna hurt anyone!" Austria called out "He's fine we can trust him. Just let him go"

Raph sighed and crossed his arms over his chest "Leo will decide his fate…when he wakes up" and that was the end of the conversation. Raph gave us 15 minutes to prepare to depart and that was his way of saying to me "get all your geeky shit so we have everything we need when we get there." Austria came down to help me but mainly to retrieve the camera I had forgotten to return to her custody.

"Thanks Don. We might need it you know?" She shrugged

"Yeah, good thinking" I smiled at her and continued to pack necessities into my duffel bag

"Did you…look through all the pictures?"

"Um…only to look for evidence: I wasn't snooping or anything"

"I know you wouldn't do that Donnie. Did anything interest you" I stopped and slowly looked at her. Is it just me or does it sound like she's accusing me of snooping?

"Well…" I sat down in my chair next to my desk "I saw a beautiful photo of the _Last Supper_" She smiled at the ground and sat down on my bed. I knew where this conversation was going considering the artist of that painting was _Leonardo_ Da Vinci.

"It was by Leonardo Da Vinci…" See. The light on her LED screen flickered on. There were a series of beeping sounds and then she handed me the camera. It was another photo by the same artist way back during the renaissance in Italy. My brothers and I should know we were all named after famous artists during that time period.

"_Mona Lisa_. It's one of my favorites" The quality of the photo made it look ten times more realistic.

"Do you know what Mona Lisa means?" She asked me

"I thought it was just a fancy way of saying Elizabeth" I handed her back the camera. She smiled slightly, the shape of her lips matching the one from the portrait.

"My Aunt told me it meant "Woman of Dreams" but she was a little… out there if you know what I mean." She sighed and chuckled to herself. "I don't know…a lot of people say it has many different meanings"

"I'm sure it does" I wanted to place my hand on top of hers but I was afraid she would recoil, still upset that I refused to let her take blame for Leonardo's accident.

"What do you think it means? Mona Lisa"

"Umm…I think it means Elizabeth" I smiled and raised my brow. If she was trying to hint something I had no idea what it was but she giggled and walked over to my desk, a little unsure at first but she sat down on my lap and leaned her head on my shoulder. I used one arm to prop her body against mine to keep her from falling sideways and the other around her stomach to keep her from falling off. You could say it was extremely romantic and I loved every minute of it. All the stress I was having from trying to figure out this antidote, washed over me like it was nothing and all it took was the attention from one girl.

"Think about it" she said again

"Well… it depends where you come form I suppose" I looked at the clock in my room. Five minutes until Raphael wanted to depart. I've never hoped time would stop as much as I did right now. You want to know the best part? I knew April was in the lair and I didn't give a care in the world if she saw us together.

"I just wish I would have been nicer to him until now; and looking at that painting, I just hope he comes back ok" She pushed a few strands of hair out of her face

"He will be ok…I promise" I leaned my head against hers and closed my eyes "Wake me when Raph comes" she giggled and entangled her fingers in my hand. How I would die for two more fingers right now. Holding hands with a human was always awkward for such terrapins like muaw.

I dozed off for a few minutes but Austria awoke me by kissing the top of my forehead. I was delusional at first and I felt like I had just been asleep for several weeks. I guess that's how tired I was.

"How long was I out?" I sat up and looked at the clock

"Not long, maybe 10 minutes. Raph came in and told me to wake you up or he would do it himself" She was sitting on the bed with my duffel bag, all ready to go.

My body was sore from her laying on me so I had to take it easy when I got up. I reached down and touched the floor to stretch my aching hamstrings. I hope I didn't crash while on our mission from exhaustion.

"You guys ready?" Raph peeked in to our room

"Yeah… were ready" I stood up and Austria handed me my bag.

"Let's do this" She pumped her fist and smiled at us. If she only knew how dangerous this could be, especially when after we walked into the living room, I noticed hunter was missing from his chair in the kitchen.

"Where's Hunter!?" I yelled and started to look around the house. Raph sighed and grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Splinter told us to let him go"

"And _you_ listened?" I folded my arms across my chest.

"Rub it in why don't yah. He said we couldn't hold him hostage if we had no reason to. Now that doesn't mean I didn't ruff him up in the sewers before letting him back up topside" He grinned that special grin only Raphael could pull off that sent chills down your spine.

"You what!?" of course Austria was the first to protest "He's my friend!"

"Im ganna hold ya against that once he tells everyone where we are missy" he leaned down to her level and poked her in the shoulder. I slowly stepping in between them and smiled at my brother. He held up his hands and called for Mikey to join us downstairs.

"Alright guys listen up, we aint doin this for our own benefit whatever that might be. Leo is hurt and we need to remember that as were invadin' Austria's house"

"It is not my house…" She sassed him. I loved her more and more every day.

"Alright, Austria's ex-house and I aint sayin its ganna be all smooth sailin either. Who knows what we might run into out there? Plus, Purple Dragon activity has been up in the last three months so watch yourselves. I don't know how Leo can do this leader business when you guys are as annoying as hell."

We all laughed it off "Haha" Rraph is so funny…not.

"Donnie, stay with Aus at all times got it? I'll stay with Mikey's ass"

"Hey! I can handle my own ass thank you very much!" he squealed

Raph chuckled and put his hand into the circle we were standing in. "For Leo." One by one we placed our hands on top of the other until Austria's were stacked neatly on top. "On three, 1…2…3!"

"FOR LEO!"


	7. Chapter 7

**WARNING: SERIOUS CLIFFHANGER**

: Chapter 7:

It was as black as death outside when we arrived in Brooklyn after a long exhausting journey through Manhattan. Even at this time of night people were still walking along the sidewalks and cars were speeding down the small two-way lanes. My house was directly across from a bridge that connected the freeway to an intersection so you can imagine my pain as I tried to sleep over the sound of cars and the occasional collision when I still resided here.

It was still the same. It had the same ugly green shutters and pee yellow siding. Things in Brooklyn are so cramped together; everybody got 2 inches of grass to themselves before you ran into another apartment. Strangely, my mom had put the small space to use and planted a few rhododendrons along the side of the house. The flowers were dying now, no longer the beautiful purple shades they had been when I left.

"This is your house?" Mikey held his hand over his mouth and started to crack up. Good thing we were hiding behind one of the structures that were buttressing the bridge up or I bet he would have attracted some unwanted attention.

"Would you pipe down!?" Raph slapped his hysterical brother on the head

"It looks like something my grandma would live in!"

"Mikey, enough!" Donnie butted in. Thank God the turtle with some sense saved the day…or night.

"Ok look, I don't know if my mom is home, let alone my brother" I peeked around the corner to get a closer look. The windows were lit and the occasional blue light would flicker on and off out the window. The T.V was on so I'm going to say there home.

"Is there any other way to get in besides the front door?" Don pointed to the front of the house

"Well…there's a roof behind the house that leads to my bedroom window. We could get in through there" As soon as I thought of that roof I couldn't help but remember the night a small green turtle came to my house to see the stars. I quickly blocked the memory before I could become emotional over it.

"Come on, but keep an eye out. There are people everywhere" Raph ran across the road and flipped gracefully, landing behind a small garbage can. He held a finger to his lips and then signaled us to follow. Mikey did the same set of angelical movements until he was positioned directly behind Raphael.

"After you?" Don smiled and gestured to the road. I didn't need to do any fancy flips though because I was well, human. When I went to take a step onto the road, a huge truck appeared out of nowhere and honked its horn. My eyes widened at the oncoming headlights and I just stood there like a deer about to get the ride of its life. "Move Move!" My mind was saying but my body wasn't reacting. The truck swerved and a strong powerful hand pulled my dead body out of the way and threw me onto the ground.

"Austria are you alright?!" Don knelt down next to me and waved his hand in front of my face. I just stared at him and let my breaths escape my body in large gasps. "What's with you and getting hit by cars?" He moved my hair out of my face as if they were small delicate threads that would snap with the gentlest touch.

"I'm ok. Let's go" I finally exhaled. Don turned around and looked across the road.

"Uh Oh" He picked me up carefully and ran behind the bridge support "I think your mom heard that" He held his back flat against the wall (The best he could with a shell) and inched toward one side of the support so he could get a better look. I squiggled from his arms and peeked out from behind him. He only let me look so far before his arm pushed me back into the shadows.

"Is that your mom?" He asked

"Yeah…she's a really beauty isn't she?" I joked. I know he tried to hold it in but I heard his tiny grunts of laughter. "Hey! I'm related to her remember!"

"God Damn truckers!" I heard her yell. Yup, good old mom.

"Come on, let's meet up with the others" As soon as my mom went back inside Don personally escorted me across the road to reconnect with our small team.

"Took yah long enough" Raph looked less than pleased. I guess he completely missed the "I almost got hit by a giant moving automobile" part but I suppose he was used to it by now considering the odds.

"Come on this way" I took the lead and led the expedition though the tiny gate and miniature ally way that lead to my backyard. Well, it wasn't much of a backyard but we had a nice view of the apartment building behind us. "There's the roof" I pointed to the low sitting structure dangling off the house. "There's two windows in the kitchen so be careful"

"Well no frickin duh" Mikey jumped off the ground, bounced off another building, and landed on the roof like a butterfly. Raph did the same but a tad less gracefully. The roof rumbled and cracked and the two turtles almost lost their balance and went crashing to the ground. "Guys be careful. This place is ancient" Mikey smirked. He faded out of my vision which meant he was walking towards my bedroom window. "Is this some kind of joke?!" Although I couldn't see the guys I heard they were struggling with something.

"What's going on?" Don whispered

"It's boarded! The windows' boarded up!"

"Hold on, I'll come help. Austria, stay here, don't move" He made his way onto the roof to join his brothers. After a few minutes I got tired of waiting so I decided I would join them. I took a few steps back and got a running start. I successfully bounced off the other building but forgot to take in consideration of two things. One, the house is at least a million years old, and Two, I am not a ninja therefore I cannot land like a graceful butterfly. I landed more like a pregnant elephant and that roof didn't like it one bit. There were a few cracking sounds and then I was free falling. Yeah, free falling straight into my kitchen.

"Aus!" Raph tried to grab my hand but my body flipped in mid-air, making me land flat on my stomach. I heard my mother's blood curdling screams and she came down the stairs and looked into the kitchen at the catastrophe.

"What in Moses ark!?" I heard another set of heavy footsteps run in. That was definitely my older brother. I guess my body was hidden under the rubble from the collapsed roof because he started to poke at the wood and push it around instead of screaming my name and running like a little girl.

"Baby don't go near that! You'll hurt yourself! Boy am I going to have several choice words with the contractor about this. What's going to keep the rain out of my kitchen now?!" I heard her stomp away into another room. Now was my time to get up and get the hell out of here. I tried to move my leg but it wouldn't budge. I turned my head just enough so I could see the huge beam of wood resting on top if it "Shit" I said to myself. What are the guys doing up there throwing a party?! I needed help here!

My bro started to pick at the debris again. More and more light engulfed my vision as he removed beam by beam. If I was going to get caught, I was going to get caught in style.

"WOOF!"

My brother shrieked like a pre-teen girl and went running out of the kitchen screaming "Mommy!" the whole entire way. I tried to laugh but the weight from the roof was crushing my stomach so I gave myself a mental high five.

"What is it? Did you touch the mess when I told you not too?!" She was back in the kitchen with her son at her side.

"There's an animal in there!" His voice was the same high pitch I always remembered. He never did hit puberty and I guess he never would; consider he's like 20 and still lives with our mother.

"No there isn't hub chub now go somewhere safe. I called the constructor man ok?" She made a little baby voice. I think I'm going to puke all over myself right about now. He whined and waddled out of the room like a fat chubby duckling.

Ok guys…any day now you could help me. I figured there was a reason they weren't coming in to save my sorry ass. Either one, Raph's in charge and he wants to see me get pancaked for revenge. Two, they didn't realize the roof collapsed and are still trying to break into the window. I instantly ruled out 2. Forget it, I realized this is my fight and I need to do this on my own. I know if things get hair they will jump in. I just know they will. It's now or never.

I moved my body back and forth, sending rubble from the top of the stack, crashing to the floor. I shot my hand out in front of me and heard my mother scream and jump up and down.

"Monster!"

"Oh shut up already!" I yelled

"HOLY SHIT!"

I carefully pulled my ankle free and left the pile of debris. I couldn't believe I didn't feel any pain from all the weight that fell onto my body yet it could just be adrenalin pumping through my veins. I slowly stood up off the dust covered floor and checked myself for injuries. There was nothing but a small piece of wood that was sticking out in the back of my leg. I couldn't even feel the thing even after I yanked it out. Blood started to drip down my leg but suddenly stopped at my knee. When I twisted my leg to get a better view of the wound, there was nothing. No hole, no red spot, nothing. Just a small blood trail left behind from whatever used to be there.

When I turned around to face my mom with the piece of wood still in my hand, she gasped and then fainted right onto the floor. This turned out better than expected, now to deal with hub chub. I limped into the living room because that's what a normal human would do if they just fell 10 feet off a roof and into a suburban kitchen.

"Hello…brother" I used my best intimidating voice. He was sitting in the corner of the room with a blanket over his head. "Get up" I walked over to him and ripped it off.

"Please don't kill me ghost of Austria!" His face was still red and chunky and it matched his pumpkin sized body. Some might ask how I'm even related to these people. It must be a test tube baby thing.

"I'm not a ghost you cheese head. Now get up" My brother had treated me like crap just like my parents but to a different extent. I helped him up off the floor and sat him down on the couch. "Where's daddy's lockbox?" I asked him

"I don't know" He started to hyperventilate. Talk about drama queens.

"Look, your making this harder than it has to be. All I need is that lockbox and I'm outta here"

"Mom said you died. She said Dad shot and killed you" he spat. I could see this was going to take a while.

"Look!" I grabbed his greasy shirt and brought him close to my face. I had to push him back a bit before the smell of B.O and Cheetos really did kill me. "I need that lockbox. My friend is dying and I need to know how to save him and if he dies…you die!" I shook him a little bit to install the sense of urgency.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Please let me go!" He cried. I growled and threw him down on the couch in defeat. "I think…I think mom would know where something like that was" He stuttered.

"Mom really can't help at the moment!" I pointed to her frozen body on the ground. "I'm checking upstairs and if you move a muscle…" I pointed two fingers at my eyes, and then at his. "Shit will get real" I located the stairs and flew up them as fast as I could. Now if I were a lockbox that held every single secret of a specific human beings life that was vital to save my best friend, where would I hide? I went to check my room first for no specific reason but when I walked up to the door and turned the knob, it was locked.

"You think you can stop me?" I slammed my shoulder into the door to try and open it. "Oh…ffff" I fell onto the ground in pain. Ok, not as strong as I thought I was. The door opened and a gloomy orange face was staring down at me.

"You know I was going to open the door" Mikey laughed

"Oh yeah laugh all you want ha-ha. Where were you when I needed you?!" I stood up while holding my aching shoulder.

"Oh you needed us?" A dark green hand popped out of the doorway and smacked him in the head.

"We couldn't afford to expose ourselves so we were tryin to find another way in and help yah with the element of surprise" Raph stepped out of the room and walked into the next one. "Find it yet while you were loafin around?"

"Oh yeah I found it while I was crushed between one hundred pounds of DEBRIS!" I shouted

"Oh good where is it?" He held his hand out and grinned

"Oh leave her alone" Don slapped his hand away and hugged my aching body. "Are you alright? Can't I take my eye off you for 5 seconds?" He pulled away and looked up and down my body. He looked closely at my arms and legs for bumps or bruises but found none. "How are you not hurt?"

"She's not hurt?" That caught Mikey's attention

"I fine I swear. No boo-boo's here" I smiled angelically

"Aww Austwia is special" Mike tapped my head and laughed only to be shunned and ignored by Donatello.

"Are you sure you're alright? I can fix you up if you are; don't be afraid to say something. I brought the med kit"

"He only brought the med kit because he knew Aus was coming Ha-Ha!" Mike reached down and slapped his knee.

"Actually I brought two just in case because I figured something like this would happen and…"

"Donatello" I cupped my hands around his anxious face "Relax"

"Are you two ganna flirt or help me find this thing?" Raph yelled from the other room.

We looked everywhere inside my mom's bedroom while trying to not pass out from the heaping stenches of smoke and alcohol. We looked under the bed, in the closet, and in every crack and cranny we could find in that room but nothing.

"Where is the damn thing!?" Raph was looking under articles of clothing that were lying on the floor and then throwing them over the bed.

"Uh Bro…" The clothes were piled on Mikey's face and hanging on his shoulders. He shook his whole body, making them fall down to the floor "You gotta think like a box"

"How Ironic" Don smiled

"Yeah just think like a box turtle" I giggled and looked through my mom's dresser drawers. I moved a few shirts and socks around and then I picked up a weird looking string thing. It took me a minute but "EEEK!" I threw the thing over myself and onto Raph's head

"AHH!" He grabbed a Sai and shredded it to pieces, making tiny, pink lace float to the floor "What was that!"

I laughed hysterically and had to hold on to the dresser for balance "It was…a thong!"

"Disgusting" He wiped his face with his hand and stuck his tongue out

"Don't let him fool you. He probably liked it He-He!" Mikey's laugh was just hysterical

"Shut it wise guy and keep searchin!"

Once we declared the room clear we moved onto the next one which was my brothers.

"Does your bro like hockey or what?" Don had to move about a dozen hockey sticks out of the way so he could get into the room.

"Just throw it out of your way" I kicked the helmets across the room and made my way in

"Gee did a twister hit this place or something?" Mike peeked in but didn't go any farther "I'll just stand out here and keep guard" He gave us a thumbs up

"The numbskull's got a point. You guys better move it. I'm sure Austria's mom won't stay passed out forever" Raph warned us to be swift so we immediately started tearing the place apart. After about ten minutes of useless searching we gave up.

"It's not here! Where the hell is it?!" I cried out

"Maybe your mom hid it?" Don suggested

"My dad said she had no idea that I was a lab baby so why would she have a reason to hide it?" I popped a hip and glared around my brother's trashed room. We're running out of time and we _needed _that lockbox.

There was a creek on the steps and the guys pulled out their weapons and faced the staircase. Don stepped in front of me and went to investigate.

"I'm callin the cops you piece of shit!" it was my mom being the little sunshine she was.

"Guys hide!" I whispered and pushed them all into separate rooms. "Come and get it!" I taunted her. She pounded up the stairs and faced me with her piercing green eyes. She must have aged at least a hundred years in the last month and her once blonde hair was starting to turn a shiny silver hue.

"Why are you here…I did nothing to you!" She screamed. I almost chocked on my sudden burst of laughter.

"I need something that you have. I need daddy's white lockbox" I tried to calm down and maybe she would follow my lead and take a damn chill pill before the guys jumped out and knocked her clean on her ass.

"What does a pre-teen girl need with your fathers lockbox?!" She popped a hip, returning my gesture, and played with the curlers in her hair

"I'm not a pre-teen I'm a teenager! And it's very important! Someone's life is a stake!"

"Whose?! Why do I give a shit!?" She chuckled sinisterly

"Its ganna be yours in a minute lady" Raph had somehow snuck up behind her and had the tip of a Sai to her neck. The end was so sharp that the slightest movement sent a small river of blood flowing down her neck and onto her bath robe. He leaned in close to her repelled face and whispered in her ear. "Unless yah tell us where the lockbox is…yah got no more than 5 seconds to live and just try me. I aint playin games" He twisted the Sai in a little further, adding blood to the red stained stream.

"Please! I don't know what yah talkin about!" She pleaded for her life like a coward

"Don't play dumb with me! Where is it!" He wrapped his arm around her neck that made her reach up and scratch at it.

"Ok!" She surrendered just in time. Her face was starting to turn purple too. "Follow me…" He released his grip on her but still had his Sai against her neck. She walked into her bedroom and lifted the mattress up off the bed with some help from Mikey. Long behold, lying beautiful under the weight was a small square box with a keypad built in to the top of it. My mother grabbed it and told Mike to set the mattress down.

"Here Happy?!" She shoved it into Raph's arms

"What's the code?"

"I aint tellin yah the code!"

He leaned towards her and growled. She whined and took the box back from him and input the code. The small white lid opened automatically revealing the contents inside.

Sometimes, things happen for a reason and sometimes people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should have known my mother wouldn't go down without a fight as she pulled something from the box and aimed it at Michelangelo.

"NO!" We all shrieked in horror; Raph tried to pull the weapon from her grasp but he was too late. An ear deafening sound shook the room and the innocent, orange turtle went crashing to the floor.

**Please don't hate me for the cliffy! **


	8. Chapter 8

: Chapter 8:

I heard the last breath of air escape Mikey's lungs before he went falling to the floor. Raph grabbed the gun from Austria's mom and hit her dead center in the head with the butt. She also went to the floor and lay lifeless. I knew what Raph was doing. If Mikey was alive he would spare her life, if he wasn't, well that woman better start saying her prayers. Raphael followed one rule that Master Splinter and Leonardo despised so much; a life for a life. But who can blame him when our baby brother was lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Mikey!" Austria fell over at his side and held her fingers to his neck. "He's alive but barely"

I saw Raphael locate the lockbox and curse under his breath. It was shut.

"Don!?" he threw it at me and growled

"It must be on a timer!" I tossed it back and forth in my palms to study its structure.

"Can you open it?!"

"I think so!" I lifted it high into the air and slammed it onto the wood flooring with excessive force. The lid shot off and landed somewhere across the room.

"I could have done that…" he grunted

I immediately started looking through the papers but there were at least 5 dozen here and I didn't have time to carefully read through them. I picked up the first paper and skimmed it.

"Experiment 450063. Day one successful, fetus has already begun premature development. Doctors Notes: My wife has no idea I had taken an egg from her ovary. This new technology proved useful and should be used for later experimentation." My stomach started to churn as I realized Austria had been given an experiment number.

"Day two, fetus has begun muscle growth but still remains small in stature. 55cm" I wiped the sweat from my forehead and grabbed the next paper. "Day 5, fetus is almost fully grown and has reached almost 4 feet in length" I could barely read the next sentence without stuttering "Regeneration experiments conducted, fetus successful regenerated upper left appendage with no complications"

"Day 7, fetus was removed from the liquid chamber and placed under Lewis Westly's care. Day 8, child has grown a full set of hair and has begun to walk. Early stage aging complete from here on the subject will grow at a normal human speed."

"Come on Don! We need the important information!" Raph was down with Austria holding Mikey's hands. I flipped through the papers until I reached the very last one on the bottom of the pile. It was personal notes from the father of the subject.

It reads: "My fellow biologists and I have decided to begin further more advanced experiments on the subject. We have named her E245 for now but I have refrained from telling them the true name I will give her when she is returned to my custody. She is now at the age of 2 and appears like any other child. Today we…" I choked on my words "Today we shot the subject in the cranium with a 5mm bullet. No immediate regeneration. Subject pronounced dead at 11:48am. Moments later she showed to be responsive and entry wound had vanished. Experiment Successful. Submitting data."

"Don!" Austria held her hand on Mikey's face that was starting to turn a pale green.

"Day 807, begun experiments on transfer energy after we could not duplicate the regeneration serum. We will try and transfer it over to another injured test subject" This was it! "First transfer to infected subject proved unsuccessful. Infected subject 390 was rushed to emergency unit and died at 6:09pm from blood poisoning. Day 865, Second transfer unsuccessful, infected subject poisoned by energy transfer. E245 proved to be in distress" I flipped through the small packet. "Unsuccessful, unsuccessful, unsuccessful. Death by poisoning, death by poising, death by asphyxiation"

"Don in English please!" Raph demanded, the tone of his voice becoming much more serious.

"The biologists must have lost the formula that made Austria what she is now. They were trying to test her ability to transfer her powers to another human being so more than one person could possess the healing factor. The subjects' bodies could not handle the sudden amounts of regenerate able energy and gave up." I turned to the last page in the packet that was only half way filled with information.

"Test 1023, transfer successful yet at major costs. E245 shows signs of major distress and we believe to have damaged her immortality rate. Infected subject has healed completely"

"So it works?" Austria asked with signs of hope in her eyes. I wasn't sure about doing this after the biologists had 1 success to hundreds of failures. There was no more information describing the one successful subject. The one person in specific may have qualities that the others didn't that made the transfer work. Now the question is bobbling through my mind. Will Michelangelo's mutant blood react well with Austria energy signatures? Or will he suffer the same fate as the hundreds who perished trying to answer a similar question?

"I guess were ganna find out" but I had no idea how to move energy from one body to another and the biologists weren't very specific on their report. Even a second skim through the files showed nothing. I could only think of one way to do it, through a blood transfusion which was already extremely dangerous as is and I had no needles in my med kit. I looked around the room and picked up a sharp piece of glass that had made its way in here when we busted through the bedroom window. Don't ask. I drenched it in alcohol, that I took from the med-kit, to sterilize it.

"Austria…" She looked in my hand and eyeballed the tool. I wasn't going to make her do this if she didn't want to. "You don't have to do this…"

"I'll do it" She took the glass from me and opened her forearm. She aimed it at her wrist where most of the blood would flow. "Won't I heal too quickly?"

"Just a small incision should open up the veins enough so a few cells can fall"

"We're loosin him!" Raph had his fingers against Mikey's neck. When he lifted them, the spot where his hand had been stayed white, a sign that no blood was flowing.

I heard the glass drop to the floor and looked over at Austria. She was holding her wrist as blood started to leak from her hand onto Mikey's plastron. I positioned her over the bullet's entry wound and told her to let go. When she did there was no cut from the glass but the rest of blood was trickling into the wound. Now it was just a waiting game.

"It might not work because the blood has been exposed to the air" I whispered

"It's gotta work…it's just gotta" I could see tears starting to dwell in Raphael's eyes. He was the tuff guy on the battlefield but when it came to his brothers, he was a real softie. He held Mikey's hand as we waited, and waited.

"Nothing's happening…" Austria buried her face in my shoulder and started to weep. I held her close as I tried to fight back my own tears that began to collect.

I couldn't believe this was happening, not to someone like Mikey. He was so, innocent in terms. He never did anything to hurt anyone, never threatened to punch anyone in the face like Raph, never tried to take control of harmful situations like Leo, or even construct deadly weapons to use against our enemies like me. He was just, Mikey and he was his own unique personality and he was a personality this family would never get along without.

"Mikey, if you can hear me…" Raph began while wiping away a stray tear. "You can do this, you can get through this bro. Your tuff, you're a fighter and we need yah. Let Austria heal you please Mikey. We need you…I need you" He shut his eyes tightly and growled at himself. Raph would take the blame for Michelangelo's death I just knew it. Leonardo would not be healed, and they both would die.

When all hoped seemed lost, when we thought we would have to return home and tell Splinter we couldn't find the cure and our baby brother was dead, the wound in his shell suddenly started to shrink in size.

"Look!" Austria jumped off me and cradled the turtle. The wound had completely disappeared and only left behind the blood that had now dried from earlier. "It's working!"

When Mikey took his first breath, Raph and I jumped up and hugged each other. We were crying like a bunch of sappy teenage girls but it was worth it, our brother was alive.

"Mikey say something!" Austria shook his shoulders but he didn't move. "Mikey?" She shook him again.

His eyes slowly opened, revealing their endless white gaze that all we brothers shared and then he did the one thing I would have never expected him to do. He smiled.

"Is it…time to eat?"

"Mikey!" Austria fell on him and hugged his neck. He grumbled at the pressure from her intense hug but wrapped his arms around her and laughed. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"All this for a few papers?!" Mikey laughed. Aussie slowly crawled off his body and helped him up off the ground.

"How do you feel?" I asked my brother while patting him on the shoulder

"I feel fine!" He twisted his body back and forth and touched his toes to demonstrate his flexibility.

"Glad you're alright squirt" Raph wrapped his arm around his neck and rubbed the top of Mikey's head with a fist. "But now let's get outta here and get back to Leo"

"What about miss sunshine?" Mike pointed to Austria's mother who was still passed out on the ground. Police sirens began to echo in the distance and became more distinct as they drew closer to the house.

"Let the cops deal with her. I smacked her hard enough she'll forget her own name"

"And what about my brother? He saw me and might tell the cops I did it"

"If he does, we'll track him down but we gotta go! We can worry about that later" We left the house out Austria's bedroom window and snuck past the dozen or so cop cars that rolled into the scene.

When we got back into the sewers of New York City something didn't feel right. We all had an uneasy chill run up our spines as we walked through the shallow waters under the City. It was quiet and even the rats had hidden away in their burrows.

"Something aint right" Raph finally exclaimed what was on all our minds. "Let's just get back to the lair" but when we went around the corner that concealed it, the door was wide open.

"Shit!" We all rushed into our home with our weapons at the ready. The place was totaled. Kitchen ware, furniture, chairs, my lab equipment, everything, was either destroyed or severely damaged and not a giant mutant rat or mutant turtle in sight. Even Casey and April were absent from the scene.

"Spread out!" we all disbanded and went to look for our family. I ran down the hall into the dojo and found master Splinter lying on the floor.

"Sensei!" I ran over and helped him off the ground. "What happened? Are you alright?" He moaned and held his head where he had a nasty scar running from his left ear down to his eye.

"The Purple Dragons found our lair" he clenched his teeth in pain. "Hunter…" he stopped

"What? What about him?" I urged him to respond

"He is one of them"

I couldn't believe it yet I had an idea that the little brat was part of the bigger picture. He had been following Austria in the sewers because he wanted to lead the Dragons to us. Too bad for him she wasn't there when he arrived but Splinter and Leo paid the price for it and it was costly.

"Your brother… where is your brother?" He moaned. I took my arm and put it under his to help levitate his injured body.

"I'm not sure but we're working on it" I led him out of the dojo and into the living room where he could rest on the couch while we searched for Leo. Mikey and Austria found Casey and April locked in a closet near the kitchen. They looked battered and beat but nothing to serious.

"Guys! Your back!" Casey hugged us and kissed the top of our heads

"Ooook" I giggled

"Oh guys I'm so glad your back! The Purple Dragons…" April hesitated when splinter held up his hand

"We will tell stories later" he said

Austria and Mikey kept Splinter, April and Casey company while I went to help Raph.

"Donnie in here!" Raph called me upstairs and in Leo's bedroom. I ran in and found Raph holding our leader in his arms. His body looked like it had gone through a war. He had cuts and bruises all over him and his bandana was lying on the floor in pieces. "The dragons are ganna pay for this!"

"We can worry about that later. We need to get Austria's blood in him!" I found some sterile syringes in what was left of my bedroom and drew blood from Austria's forearm once we got Leo downstairs and on the couch with Splinter. I injected him with the blood and played the same waiting game we did with Michelangelo.

"Are you sure this will work?" Casey asked.

"Trust me it works" Mikey winked

"We can tell stories once Leo is awake" Raph grumbled

Almost a half an hour passed before Leo's body began to stir to life. First, his fingers moved, then his toes, and then his arms and legs. He moaned and squeezed his eyes shut as his wounds started to heal right before our eyes. Splinter was astounded, speechless. It appeared that the regeneration serum only worked on mutants but I would need to further experiment to be able to make a conclusion.

Leo opened his eyes which without his bandana, where a bright ocean blue. His eyes wondered at first, unsure of his surroundings but eventually he made eye contact with the anxious family waiting over him.

"Leo?" April grabbed his hand and kissed the top of his forehead

"Hey guys" He smiled back at us, even at Austria who was balling her eyes out.

The reunion could have lasted a life time. Austria seemed to be the most emotional upon Leo's return. She apologized for everything she did to make his life a living hell but he just embraced her until she stopped crying. She told him how it was her fault that this happened to him but he simply shut her up and told her if she ever took blame for something that wasn't her fault again, he would make her sleep in the dojo for a week. His body was very weak and it took several hours to get him to eat and drink anything. He was too weak to get up off the couch or even sit up all the way so we gathered around him and made ourselves comfortable on the floor and with Leo back in our lives; we got the sense of order and leadership.

April and Casey told us how the Dragons came into the lair and started to destroy everything. They kept screaming "Where's the girl! Where's the girl!" and when they didn't talk, they were thrown into the closet and locked in to die. Splinter tried to take on the dozens of dragons but they quickly over powered him and left him on the floor of the dojo in no condition to survive. They weren't sure what happened to Leo but the bruises that were once on his body told the story.

We told them about Austria's mom and how we got into the house and how our baby brother almost died. April cried and hugged him tightly to ensure he never left her sight again. I held up the white lockbox in triumph and swore I would find out as much as I could.

As I looked around the room, at the faces of our team, I realized that we may not be your average American family, but if there's one thing we had, it was compassion and each other's backs. We were one again, Mikey was alive and the Purple Dragons had something very ugly and very green coming their way.


	9. Chapter 9

: Chapter 9:

Leo was back to his old self within a few hours. He immediately hit up the dojo with Raphael but as I walked by, being the snoopy teenage girl I am, I didn't hear any fighting. I poked my head in and looked to see what was going on. They were…talking? They were sitting on the floor and actually having humane conversation, but what about? Too late now, I'm curious and when Austria Westly is curious, she always investigates. Yes, I just talked in third person. I've been doing much more of that lately.

"Being snoopy I see" A voice came from behind me but my reflexes acted before I could calculate who it was. I jumped halfway in the air and swung my leg out behind me, sending the person crashing 10 feet across the floor. Donnie lifted up his head and looked at me in horror.

"Donnie!" I held my hands over my mouth and shrieked. "I'm so sorry! I have no idea where that came from!" I quickly rushed over and pulled him up off the ground.

"That's ok Austria, I wanted to be bed ridden for the next few days anyway" He smiled and twisted his torso back and forth until a cracking sound came from his back. "Where did you learn those moves?" He nodded his head and gave me thumbs up. I smirked and flipped my hair.

"Well…I'm not sure actually" I had no idea what came over me but I guess I was just that awesome. Of course Don new it too.

"Maybe you're observant and learned by watching my brothers and I" he smiled

I only ever paid attention to Donnie when he battle the Purple Dragons and saved me, multiple times. Normally I would go up to Leo and show off my new moves but considering I nearly killed him, I'll just set that aside for another time.

"It's probably from watching you" My compliment made him blush and hide his face. Watching him blush made me blush as well. It was a blushing circle!

"I'm not _that_ good." He flicked his hand in the air and tilted his head to the side. "You could learn a thing or two from the best fighter in the lair."

"I should spend more time with you then"

He giggled and shook his head. "I meant Raphael but thanks, your sweet" He nudged my cheek with his hand and walked into the dojo. Leo and Raph met him at the door which I guess meant their talk was over and I could snoop around and find out what it was about. I hope they weren't ganna make me go home with April. Trust me, I love April like she was family and all but if you could pick between living a normal life, or having a wild, adventurous one…I think you would pick the same thing I would.

"Is everything alright?" Don looked up at his brothers who had serious looks on their faces.

"Get Michelangelo, we need to chat" Leo ordered

"Ill get him!" I started to head into the living room but Leo called out for me to stop

"Just us brothers Austria. No offense" He smiled lightly with an apologetic look on his face. I think we've bonded a bit after the "incident" considering he was trying to be polite and tell me "no" at the same time. So I just shrugged and crossed my arms. Whenever someone says "No offense" every person in the world will always 100% take offense. I stormed off into the living room and grabbed the remote to the T.V sets.

"Your wanted Mikey" I snapped at the orange turtle eating popcorn from a bowl.

"Oh, must have been that bank I robbed" he slapped me on the shoulder and laughed. I couldn't help but bare a small smile. This guy really knew how to make it shine when it was nothing but rain. He got up off the couch and stretched his arms and legs. "This better be good. I'm missing my show for this"

The guys must have taken forever with their conversation because I passed out on the couch in the living room after being bored by the usual NYC news. My eyes were heavy and I was so tired that my mouth was halfway open and I was moaning as I took breaths. I felt something warm and fuzzy drape over my freezing body and my head became propped up by a cloud from the sky. At least, that's what it seemed like while I was dreaming.

Every nerve in my body was sore once I woke up what I guessed was the next morning. My thigh was also killing me from when I swung my leg around and accidently knocked poor Donnie flat on his shell. I still felt_ horrible_ about that whole situation by the way.

I was awakened by April who calmly rubbed my shoulders until I opened my eyes and moaned.

"What time is it?" I shut my eyes again and went back to sleep

"It's almost 8:00am and Leo wants you up now. He said he wants to talk to you" She said in a sweet motherly voice

I moaned and kicked the fuzzy blanket off my body. This outta be a great start to my morning, a lecture from Leonardo himself. Once I cleaned up and had breakfast you know, the usual morning routine, I headed down to the dojo with sleepiness still in my eyes. There he was waiting with Master Splinter and you had to have been there to experience the awkwardness as I slowly walked towards them.

"Can I go back to bed after this?' I asked when I met them

"No, I will tell you why in a moment" splinter handed me his walking stick. I looked at it and scrunched my face. Was I getting old and needed a stick to walk with? Did he want me to sharpen it or something, I had no idea. Then, out of the blue he leaped into the air with one foot out to his side and he was heading straight for me.

I screamed and used the stick to block his attack. He did a flip in the air and landed on his feet with exemplary perfection.

"You are right Leonardo" He held his hand out for the stick. I cradled it in my arms and whined. He aint getting the stick back until he swore never to attack me out of the blue again! I've officially had my heart attack for the day.

"What do you mean?" I held my fists in front of my face and rocked my body back and forth in a defensive position

"I have decided to allow you to participate in training" said the wise old rat. "If you would have been here when the dragons attacked you would have never survived. You must learn to defend yourself in case something like that ever happens again"

"So I'm ganna be like a woman ninja?" I was starting to like the sound of this

"No. You will learn a few defense techniques and that is it." Splinter nodded and then the rest of the guys walked into the dojo. "I believe in…learning on the job" He snapped his fingers and then Mikey jumped in front of me spinning his nun chucks. He looked so frickin happy it made me sick to my stomach.

"The two most important parts of the body are your head and chest. Those are the area's that you need to protect" Leo so graciously informed me.

"So what if Mikey tries to hit my crotch or something?" I was so confused it wasn't even funny. I looked over and saw Don standing with his arms crossed and chuckling to himself. Although Raph wasn't saying a word I had a pretty good Idea what he was thinking: "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Always keep one hand by your face, and then move the other to block an attack" Leo nodded at Mikey who slowly swung his weapons toward my stomach. I moved my left hand down and heard the metal on bone crack as they made contact.

"OW!" Yeah he swung slow but it still hurt like hell

"Isn't there maybe another way we could…?" Don certainly wasn't enjoying this one bit and I even saw him flinch when I got hit with the nun chuck.

"Again" Splinter ordered so Mikey swung again but this time I used the back of my hand to block the attack and it didn't hurt _as_ bad but it still hurt. "Good" I got a nod of approval from the wise rat

"Should it hurt that bad?" I asked and watched as the grin on Mikey's face went from ear to ear. Then Raph turned around and started laughing into his arm. Even Donnie smiled and shook his head after receiving a pat from his brother. "Real mature guys"

"You will get used to it" Leo said

"Oh yeah?" I held my fists to my face and taunted the leader. "Let's see what you got"

"Um that's not really a good…" Raph started to protest but Leo shunned him with his hand.

"She's gotta find out who's boss sooner or later" Mike threw me his nun chucks and giggled.

"No it's nothing like that! I just wanna see how good I am" Raph cracked up and slapped a knee.

"I'm ganna enjoy this" He laughed.

Leo pulled out his katana and waited for me to get a handle on Michelangelo's strange weapons. They were heavier then they looked. I spun them a few times and got the hang of it so I put myself into a ready position. Why did I feel like I was _really _going to regret this?

He quickly spun around and made a clean sweep with a sword over the top of my head. Had I not ducked he would have taken my head clean off.

"Dude! I'd like to live to at least 20 thank you very much!" I spun the nun chuck and smacked myself right in the side of my head with it. I dropped one and used my free hand to cover the throbbing spot on my cranium. "Oh man, time out." I guess Leo doesn't know the meaning of time out. I brought both swords and held them high in the air and in slow motion; I saw the katana begin the descent right in my path. I quickly griped my weapon in both hands and used the chain to stop the swords from taking my head off once more.

At this, he looked very proud. He widened his eyes and nodded with a huge smile on his face.

"Where did you learn those moves?" He asked while sheathing his swords

"I didn't! Remember when you had me sit in the dojo and watch you train? I guess some of that stuff rubbed off on me"

"I was hoping it would but I didn't actually think you were paying attention" He grinned

"Well it's not like I had anything better to do"

"Well then we can continue training" Splinter interrupted "Since you know so much already."

By the end of the day, I had accomplished the art of getting use to different types of attacks hurting like hell. After that, I trained with all the guys while Splinter taught. Believe it or not, Ninjitsu is actually a really good stress reliever. I felt calm and relaxed within a few hours and it felt amazing.

"Good job today sis" Mikey slapped me on the back.

"Don't call me sis" I frowned.

"Oh sorry, Sister-In-Law" he giggled and retreated upstairs before I could knock the crap outta him.

"I agree with Mikey, but you would still die in the real world" I guess that was as good of a compliment as I would get from Raphael. He looked around the room and when he saw no one was listening, he leaned in close to me. "How about you and I hit the rooftops tonight and kick some butt?"

I recoiled back and squinted my eyes "Dude are you insane? Leo would…"

"Leo doesn't have to know" He grinned

I know most chicks would be extremely turned on by _bad boys _but I for some reason wasn't. Raph was the spitting image of a Purple dragon and I didn't like it one bit. Although, I did like the fact of going out at night and kicking some butt but I had one condition.

"Alright Raph, you got a deal, but Donnie comes" I smiled and nodded my head

"What?! Donnie aint no fun! He'll never go let alone rat us out" Raph suddenly didn't look very pleased "I know you two got summthin goin on but yah gotta live a little Aus. Don, he'll just clip our wings out there"

"Then I'm not going, and I'll tell Leo you tried to make me do something I'm not suppose too" I grinned and rubbed my hands together all sinister like.

"Since when do you listen to Leo anyway?"

"That's beside the point. What's it ganna be?"

Raph sighed and shook his head. He looked over at Don who was at his Island trying to fix his computer that had been destroyed in the Dragon attack. A closer look and you could tell he was starting to get extremely frustrated as he sat down at his desk and put his head into his arms.

"Fine" He finally spat out "But you gotta ask and if he says no…you still gotta go…deal?"

"Deal" we shook hands and then I skipped over across the bridge to little Donnie who looked ready to pass out. "Hey sleepy head" He sat up and spun his chair around to face me

"Hey" He smiled

"You uh…got any plans?" I rocked back and forth on my tip toes like a little school girl

"Well I…"

"No? Good you're coming with Raph and me"

"I am?" He smirked and raised a brow

"Yes, tonight. Please?" I gave him the biggest puppy eyes I could pull off

"Wouldn't Leo frown upon that? Especially if _you're_ going out into the City considering you're wanted by the most powerful gang in central Manhattan. Plus, we're going with Raphael who always seems to find trouble anywhere and everywhere he goes." Raph though I was a party pooper, but Don had a point. It did kinda worry me going out and being caught by the Dragons but I did have a back-up answer for that situation.

"Well I would have a strong mutant turtle to protect me" Ok normally I would never do this but I was trying to get Don to tag along. I folded my hands behind my back and twisted my body back and forth like a child who was trying to get her own way, which I was. He leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"I'm assuming you're talking about Raph since I'm not going" He grinned until I smacked him in the arm making him giggle.

"I said _would_, as in I _would_ if you came along" I folded my arms

"Ok I'll go. But only because I need to keep an eye on you"

"I wouldn't ask you to go if I thought I couldn't handle myself" I smiled having no idea if what I said was correct.

He stood up and wrapped his arms around my waist "When do we leave?"

My words were muffled from my head lying on his shoulder "I don't know. I guess Raph will tell us. But we have to keep it secret"

"You know I would go with you even If I knew you could handle yourself?"

I giggled and sighed "I know" and went to kiss him on the cheek but he turned his head so our lips met. I quickly pulled away and looked to make sure no one saw. Everyone was gone except Mikey who was winking at us and giving a thumbs up. I sure hope he didn't hear the plan for tonight because things would get suspicious if Raph, Don, me _and_ Mikey were suddenly missing from the lair.

"It's alright…there's no one around" He laughed and stuffed a piece of pizza into his mouth "You guys wanna watch a movie with me?" He waved us over to the T.V.

"You know what Mikey…I do" I smiled and ran across the tiny bridge.

He looked at me with a bit of surprise "Really?"

"Yeah sure. Don?" I looked over at him but he was already sitting on the couch with the remote in his hand.


	10. Chapter 10

: Chapter 10:

"Keeyah!" I leapt into the air with one foot out in front of my body and my target was the middle of Raphael's plastron. He pretended to yawn and then stepped slightly to one side so I completely missed and slammed into the wall. We were waiting for Don to finish fixing the motherboard to his computer and then we were going to hit the rooftops, against Leonardo's wishes.

"You can't strike with a kick when yah opponent is completely aware that yah doing it" he helped me off the ground and smiled apologetically. I smirked and tried a roundhouse kick but once again he stepped out of the way and my body twisted like a pretzel. I growled in frustration and stomped my foot on the ground

"This is dumb! I'm no good at anything!" I crossed my arms and looked away

"Your good at anything that's not offense" he patted my back but I quickly shoved him away. All this ninja training was just too much to take in. All it was doing was making me angrier than I already was.

"Why can't we do something I'm good at?"

"There's a lot your good at" Mikey walked into the dojo with a piece of pizza in his hand. "Sucking ass, complaining a lot…" he stopped walking and smirked at me. "Kissing"

"SHUTUP!" I grabbed a spare sword that hung on the weapons rack and chucked it over in Mikey's direction. If he hadn't ducked out of the way the sword would have sliced him clean in half. In the process of dodging the attack, his pizza flew out of his hand and into the air. I quickly ran across the room and jumped into the air, grabbing the slice of food before it could hit the floor.

"I was getting a little hungry anyway" I took a bite of the pizza and quickly scarfed it down once Mike tried to take it from my hands

"Hey! That was mine!" He pulled out his nun-chucks and started to swing at me. Each move he threw at me I easily dodged it every way it went. Finally he had to stop and catch his breath and that was when I successfully preformed my first roundhouse kick. He went flying back until his shell slammed against the wall behind him.

He slowly got up off the ground and whined like a little baby. "Raph did you just see that?" he asked his brother

"I'm still tryin to process what the 'kissing' part meant"

"You seriously didn't see that? I totally just kicked his butt!" I approached Raph and threw my hands into the air.

"No I didn't. Maybe you should do it again" He winked

"HEY!" Mikey approached us and tucked his weapons back into his sash. "If you wanna go again then wait till I'm ready next time"

"You attacked me first pal!" I exclaimed

"You threw the sword at my head!"

"It was funny" I smiled

"Oh I'll show you funny!" He tackled me onto the floor and started to pin me to the ground. Raph just rolled his eyes and pretended to have no part of it when Leo walked in and demanded to know what was going on. Mike stopped and jumped off me as quick as he could.

"She ate my lunch!" He ran up to his brother and complained so I did the same. I ran up to him and started to tell the story of how I just beat the crap out of their little brother.

"You should do it again, I didn't see"

Mike gasped and waved a finger in a z formation "Whatever I'm out of here. All you losers can go suck a Purple Dragon!" He stormed out of the room with his hand bent to his side.

"Anyway…what are you guys doing up so late?" He questioned

"Were waiting for…" I began but Raph slapped his hand over my mouth and cleared his throat with a wide grin.

"Waiting for you to come and check out Aus new moves. Right Aus?" He smiled at me and slowly moved his hand away from my mouth. Leo looked at me, then Raph, then me again.

"Uh…yeah my new moves" I pointed my finger into the air, then down at the ground and started to do the disco. "You like?"

"That's not what I mean..." Raph sighed

"Let's see it then" Leo leaned against the wall and signaled for us to begin the match. I slowly stopped dancing and approached Raph

"Take it easy on me ok?" I whispered

"No way, I aint' embarrassin myself in front of Leo" He winked at me then walked to the other side of the room. I awkwardly giggled and stiffly took my spot directly across from my opponent, who I hated right now. We kind of just stood there for a few seconds and sent each other puzzling looks. I even mouthed the words "What now!?" and he mouthed back what I guessed was "Your dead."

I cleared my throat and brought my hands into a defensive position like Leo had shown me. Raph pulled out his Sai's and brought them into the defensive position, spikes aiming towards my face. Once he got a running start, I turned around and started running towards the wall. When I reached it, I jumped onto it so my feet were flat against it, and pushed myself into a backflip off the wall and over Raph's head so he went crashing face first into a whole lot of pain. Sadly, I hadn't thought my whole plan through and if I had, I would have realized I didn't know how to stick one of these flips so I ended up crashing flat on my back onto the hard floor. The wind instantly left my lungs so I was lying there, gasping on the floor, like a fish out of water.

Now Raph and I were both moaning on the floor from our recent unfortunate injuries that could have been avoided if I would have just kept my big mouth shut. Leo looked down and us and shook his head.

"Well…" It took every muscle in my body for me to begin to speak. "How did you like it?"

"You two are a disgrace. Now what are you really up to?"

"Nothin Leo" Raph was up off the ground and rubbing his head "Stay outta our business, fearless know it all" He helped me up off the ground after I had recovered my normal breathing pattern.

"As a matter of fact…were going to bed now" I stomped my foot and walked out of the dojo. I really needed to get out of here and cool down but it would have to wait a little longer.

Finally after about 3 hours of lying in bed pretending to be asleep, the lair was dark and quiet. Leo, Mikey, Splinter, April, and Casey had all gone to bed so now it was easier for us to sneak out. Don slowly opened the door to my room and peeked in.

"Ready?" He smiled and waved me to join him.

We crept out of the sewers like we were as light as air and several times we checked behind us to make sure no one was following. Once we got out into the city and onto the rooftops, I felt like a whole different person. You wouldn't believe the city from the high up at night. We stood on a tall apartment building directly over the manhole we had just evacuated from. The sound of gravel brushed under my shoes as we walked towards the edge and breathed in the cool night air.

"Wow" Those were the only words I had. It was noisy yet from a distance. You could hear everything from car horns, police sirens and even people chatting on the streets below. You may think "that's totally not peaceful at all!" but my friend, it is. The lights from the buildings illuminate the sky as if it was day yet the dark space overhead still gives it that beautiful dome like appearance. You could see way uptown where the taller buildings stood and the Empire State building stood out like a penguin in the snow with its red, white and blue lights on the steeple.

"This is…breathtaking" I took a deep breath and words couldn't describe the smell of it. It smelt free and it perfectly matched the way I felt. I felt free. I wasn't consumed to the dark, smelly clutchs of the sewer, I was above ground but not just above ground, I was above the rooftops, looking down on the city below me. I stood on the corner of the building, while a cautious Don came close to catch me if I would fall, and spread out my arms like Rose and Jack in that Titanic movie I never saw but only heard about. The breeze blew my hair behind my back and I lifted my head to the sky with a huge smile on my face.

"I wish I could just take off" I said aloud by accident

"It is beautiful aint it" I looked down at Raph who had one leg propped up on the beam of the roof and was smiling down on the city. "This is my favorite part about bein a ninja. No rules, no one to tell you you can't be up here, just fade into the night like the darkness."

I looked down at Don and saw he was smiling too. Leo must have kept them cooped up a little too long.

"Wanna see the best part?" Raph took a few steps backwards and ran to the edge of the roof and vaulted off. I gasped and looked down where he was running across another roof below. "Come on!" He waved us on. I laughed and looked at Donnie who nodded his head and smiled. I took a few steps back and ran off. For a few seconds I felt like I was flying and then I safely landed on the roof below. A little wobbly at first but I would soon get the hang of it.

Raph, Don and I were home free; running across the buildings like we could never be bound to the ground below. We were flying, well; they were flying through the air while I was sort of trying to get the hang of it. We were making our way to uptown New York where Raph said all the action was.

"Yeehaw!" Don bounced off Raphael's shell and flipped into the air.

"Cool!" I have to admit, that was pretty impressive

"Wanna try?" Raph asked

"Nope" I ran right past him and dove off the edge of the building. Yeah that wasn't happening.

We stopped when we reached a store building that looked down over Times Square. The amount of light coming from this one huge street was nearly blinding and especially at night. I peeked over the edge at all the action going on below. People were everywhere, street performers were standing…in the middle of the street, doing cool dances but when I got a closer look.

"Umm…" I pointed to the half-dressed girl with nothing on the top of her body but two stars covering her you know what's.

"Yeah you see a lot of that here" Don shrugged

"So is that what "all the action" is?" I made a face at Raph who smirked and shrugged his shoulders

"Might be part of it" He chuckled

I quickly turned my head and looked at Don who was sitting beside me.

"What!?" He smiled and held his hands up in defense "I'm not looking I swear"

"Oh lighten up Aus…there's something you might like" Raph pointed down onto the street where there was a small group of really buff, teenage boys were dancing to a popular tune. How do I know they were buff? Half of them were shirtless and half of them were sleeveless. Yeah, they were buff, but strangely not as muscular as the two guys sitting next to me. Then again Raph's on steroids.

"So?" I tried not to stare, "Their…nice." I heard Don "hmph." Well now he knows how I feel!

We sat there on the roof for almost a half hour pointing out crazy looking pedestrians and making fun of their wacky outfits and out of style hairdos. I freaked out every time a horse and buggy came into view. Horses were just the coolest thing I had ever seen and especially when attractive police men would patrol the streets on a beautiful horses back. Hmm, now to get Donnie on a horse…

I looked over at the purple masked turtle who was smiling slightly down at the streets below. The light just perfectly shadowed his face structure so he looked mysterious yet innocent at the same time. This was almost like that dream I had when Don and I were sitting on a roof together, like we were now, except Raph wasn't there. He asked me a question; I just wish I could remember what it was.

"What do you want for yourself?" Don asked. Oh yeah, that's what it was. I remember now too, that I could never answer him.

"What do you mean?" I tried to stall the conversation.

"I mean, in your future" His gaze was still set out over the streets.

"I don't know" I tightened my lips and sighed. He hesitated for a few seconds but then began to talk.

"You know what I want?" He turned to me, those beautiful eyes looking directly into mine. He looked sad, but not emotionally sad. He almost looked…guilty. As he looked back out into the city I realized that now I knew why I had never given him an answer in my dreams. I wasn't supposed to answer, he was.

"I just, want to know what it's like to be normal." At this, Raph chuckled.

"You can't have everything yah want Donnie boy. Life's ruff, the good guys never get what they want." At first I was about to smack him for crushing Don's dreams but then I sort of felt bad for him. It must be really hard to think something like that. Like nothing good ever comes out of life unless you break the law to get it.

"I already have part of it. Now I just need the rest" He smiled

"You weren't meant to be normal. You were meant to do what you do now. I couldn't imagine New York City if you four just strolled out onto the street like it was a natural thing." Like I always said, I have such a way with words.

"What do yah mean?" Raph took offense to that for some reason.

"I mean, you guys kick ass! You're different! It's so lame being normal! Everyone's normal and normal is outdated" I preached. "Not every batch of bread comes out looking _normal_, but it still tastes just as good" I nodded in approval and Donnie just looked at me and smiled so hard it looked like his cheeks were going to rip open.

"Austria that was beautiful"

"When did "bread" come into the picture?" Of course Raphael had to be the difficult one.

"Do you guys get what I'm trying to say?"

"Yah Yah" Raph shoved off any changes I was trying to make in his life. He suddenly perked up and walked over to the other side of the building that led to a separate street where a few stores were located. "I understand what yah tryin to say cuz look…" Don and I instantly jumped up and joined him.

"What is it?" We both asked

"Looks like some guy is holdin up the convince store" He growled

"Let it go Raph. The cops will deal with it" Don said

"Yah see Donnie, this is why I didn't want yah to come!"

"Guys take a chill pill! Raph, Don's right"

"Whatever" He shook his head and jumped off the roof.

"Is he Insane?!" The streets weren't as crowded but there were still a decent number of people using it to get into Times Square. "We can't just abandon him!"

Don sighed and pulled out his Bo Staff "I'm going to beat him fiercely with my staff as soon as I get the chance. Come on and if anything happens to you I'm holding him personally responsible" He jumped off the roof to join his brother.

"Leo's ganna kill me for this" I took a few steps back, got a running start, and jumped off.

**Reviews…I love em'! Hope you liked this chapter…heck... hope you like all them! HEHE I know you do**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all the sweet reviews you guys are great!**

: Chapter 11:

When I landed safely on the ground below the scene was a hectic mess. Glass was everywhere and the entire store window had been smashed through and even small pools of blood were lying on the ground and responding to the chaos by displaying small ripples. People were screaming and running in every single direction they could and eventually the bedlam had reached Times Square, making the entire block go insane.

I couldn't tell if they were running from the two men holding up the store with semi-automatic handguns, or the two giant mutant turtles that drew their weapons and took their battle stands. One guy, who was short and fat looking, was holding a customer by the collar and dangling her a few feet in the air while the other, who was tall and muscular, was forcing the store clerk to empty out the cash register and put the money into a brown bag he was holding.

"Purple Dragons?" I asked Raphael as he growled.

"No, I think their just a few street thugs that need to be taught a lesson" He spun his Sais around his fingers and then stopped them when they were criss crossed in front of his face.

"Where's the rest?!" The muscular guy yelled at the tiny store owner who was shaking violently and shedding tears onto the floor.

"I swear that's all of it!" He held his hands over his head and continued crying.

"Hey!" Raph called out. The two men slowly turned their heads and looked at the window of the store that I'm guessing they destroyed and crashed through. The fat guy dropped the woman and cocked his head back and forth like a confused dog.

"Well what do we got here? Halloween was a few months ago freaks!" They laughed and cocked their guns.

"Yah think it's alright to take things that don't belong to yah?!" Raph grinned.

"What are you ganna do? Stab me with your forks?" They laughed again. "Now get outta here before I make a mess of you all over the road" The tall thug said.

"Too bad it's the other way around" Raph said in a deep voice and grinned. The guys looked at each other in confusion and before they could process it, Raph had already leapt right into the store and taken the chubby go out. Don quickly rushed in with his Bo-Staff high over his head, spinning it like a helicopter. The thugs looked so bewildered it could have been a perfect Kodak moment, if I had brought my camera. Believe it or not, the two criminals were able to defend themselves for a little while by using their guns to block the turtle's attacks.

"Aus!" Raph called out to me "Get that clerk outta here! The lady already made a run for it!" He flipped a thug over his shell and smashed him onto the floor. I hesitated for a moment but quickly rushed into the building and slid behind the counter where a skimpy old man was cowering in fear.

"Sir, Come with me, I'm going to get you out of here" I tried to grab his arm but he pulled away and screamed.

"Don't touch me! It's a freak show out there!"

"Sir please you're not safe here!" I peeked over the counter to see how the guys were doing. It looked like a pretty fair fight. The one tall guy towered over Raph and Don like one of those long neck dinosaurs, making it harder for them to get close enough for an attack. I lowered back down and went to grab the man but he had vanished.

"Great! I had one job!" I looked around for him, finding nothing but debris everywhere, and then I checked behind me where I had seen some doors to a storage room earlier. The doors were moving slightly so he must have run through there recently. "Once I find you I'm so ganna kill you!" I ducked and rolled into the doors and flattened out on the ground once I was in.

"Listen, I know you're scared but both our lives are in danger right now!" I stood up and started to walk down the long isles of boxes, supplies, clothes and food. "Hello?" I'm supposed to be out there fighting! Not in here playing "Find the crazy old man!"

Suddenly, there was a scuffle and then the sound of a gunshot made me drop to the floor with my hands over my ears. Strangely enough, it was a bit too loud to have come from outside where all the fighting was. As I continued to look in the room, I felt something trickle down my shoulder and into my left hand.

"What are you?!"

I turned around abruptly where the old man was standing with a gun in between his shaking hands while smoke was flowing off the barrel and dissolving into the air. Had he…? I reached up and touched my shoulder. It was warm and sticky and when I brought it back down, it was soaked with a dark red substance.

"Did you…shoot me!?" I wobbled back and forth before I could catch my balance. "Listen you old hag! I've been shot at enough thank you very much!" I grabbed the gun from his hand and chucked it down one of the isles. "Now your ganna come with me! UNDERSTAND!?" I pointed my finger at his chest. He started to cry and nodded his head. "Good, let's go."

He showed me to a back door that led out into the large alley way. When I opened it, the sound of cop sirens and screaming people overwhelmed my hearing. Red, White and Blue lights were flashing everywhere I looked and reflecting off the side of buildings. "Come on" I dragged him out of the store and onto the street where a few paramedics noticed us and rushed over. I handed the old man over to them and before they could notice the blood on my arm, I ran back inside and shut the door behind me.

**: Don's POV:**

"This is the most bizarre thing I've ever done!" The thug I was fighting yelled as he pointed his gun at my head and started chucking off rounds of bullets. Of course, being a ninja and all, dodging bullets was like dodging kicks and punches in slow motion.

"Which part? Robbing a store…?" I used my staff to throw myself into the air and attack the thug on the side of the head. A few of what I guessed where teeth, went flying out of his mouth and landed somewhere on the other side of the room. "Or fighting Ninja's?"

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stared at his red stained arm in confusion. "Your ganna pay for that lizard boy" He approached me and used the butt of his gun to swing at my head. A few ducks and really high jumps made them very easy to dodge until I got in just the right position so that I could trip him with my staff and make his head smash on the clerk's counter on the way down. When of course my plan worked, he went straight down and you could even see little gold stars circling around his head.

"Nighty Night." I smiled and waved my hand at his limp body.

I turned to Raph to see if he needed any help but I watched as he delivered the final punch with a Sai that sent the imposter through the back wall and out into the alley. Now there was dry wall everywhere next to all the small shards of glass and plastic.

"Stop!" A booming voice came from outside. "This is the police, come out with your hands over your head. We have you surrounded"

"Hey were the good guys! What does it take this damn City to understand that?" Raph put his Sai's in his belt and covered his eyes from the blinding spotlight outside. So much for staying in the shadows, now all of these people now we exist. When I said I wanted to be amongst the humans in a normal manner, I didn't really mean it like this.

Raph and I slowly raised our hands over our heads like they said; while a tall police officer, with a very nice, trim looking mustache, walked through the broken glass and into the store with a few men in black suits at his sides.

"What in the devils name happened here?" He asked while the, I'm guessing investigators, took out paper and pens and began to jot down notes. Just when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, a large white van crashed through the crime scene tape outside and skidded to an ear deafening halt.

"Look at this" I whispered to Raph. The van had "News 12" written on the side. Three men with cameras and boom mics jumped out while a tall blonde woman got out of the passenger's seat. She rushed into the store as one of her workers handed her a microphone.

"This is an authorized crime scene!" The police officer told the crew

"Sir this is for the better good. Start rolling" she commanded the man with the huge camera on his shoulder. This wasn't at the least bit good and to make it all worse, I haven't seen Austria ever since Raph made her go rescue that stupid store clerk who by the way, ever lives to see the light of day will face my wrath if anything happened to her. Suddenly, Raph growled and sent one of his Sais straight through the lens of the, may I remind you, extremely expensive camera. The woman shrieked and jumped away while the crew swore my brother out.

"You've got nothing to see here lady. Now scram before I throw the other one, and I won't miss this time." He waved his last weapon in the air but the news caster simply dusted off her black skirt and cleared her throat.

"Kelly Orphan ABC news. Would you mind telling us what happened here tonight?" She held the microphone up to my mouth.

"Uhh…" I was dumbfounded "Publicity stunt?"

She widened her eyes and told one of her men to "write that down." "What type of publicity stunt is this sir? There is blood and glass everywhere what could you possibly gain from this?" she asked

"Well uh…"

"Enough chit chat!" Raph stepped in front of me and got up in Kelly's face "All you people do is get in other people's business. How about you go home and consider ridding the world of your demonic presence." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me outside of the store. Crowds of people were already starting to cluster behind the crime scene tape and point at us and gasp in horror. We quickly ran into the alley for cover and jumped up onto the roof tops using the buildings fire escape.

"What the hell was that?!" I shoved Raphael's plastron and sent him stumbling back a few steps. "Don't you ever think before you go and just jump down to save the day?! You just put our entire lives at risk! Those people saw us down there and now Austria is missing on top of everything!" I was waving my arms frantically in the air. I didn't feel angry but for some reason I was just going off like a mad turtle A.K.A Raphael. He had put us in danger and if he would just stop making dumb decisions maybe our lives could be less chaotic.

I walked to the end of the roof and looked down onto the crowded street. People were screaming; asking questions and telling investigators stories that I couldn't quit make out. I scanned the audience, careful to look at each person with extreme care to see if any of them maybe, by a slim chance, were Austria but I had no such luck. I saw a few paramedics tending to the old clerk who had been stuffing money into a bag for the thugs. He shaped his fingers into a triangle like shape and jerked it back a few times as if he were shooting somebody. Was he trying to show the cops how the thugs shot at my brother and I? But he wasn't there to see it. I saw both Him and Austria escape into the storage room so who was he pretending to shoot at?

I focused my eyes to try and get a closer look. Lip reading wasn't one of my strong points but it was worth a shot. I needed all the information I could about Austria's whereabouts. I could make out a few words like "gun," "head," and "live." I don't know why but I couldn't put two and two together I was so worried about her I couldn't even think straight. I grabbed my head in my hands and knelt down on the roof. I should have never gone along! I should have just made them stay home in the first place!

"Don look" I could feel Raph's presence next to me as he pointed down onto the street. Long behold, there, walking out of the store, with her hands above her head, was Austria. My heart started racing at a mile a minute. She was alright! We were going to go home and pretend like nothing ever happening and let all this excitement wear off. No one will even remember about the two giant, ninja, mutant turtles who saved lives in a small convenience store.

"She's alright!" I jumped up and leaned farther over the side of the roof.

"Take a closer look bro"

Raph's tone instantly wiped the smile of my face. I watched as the crowd of people started to scream and grab each other. The cops pulled their guns and aimed them straight at her.

"What are they doing?! She's innocent!" I yelled in horror as everyone started to panic again and yell things at each other. The cop with the mustache was holding back the news crew behind the tape as he slowly stepped forward and bounced his hands slowly up and down.

"Easy now" I heard him say as the crowd drew in their breath and husbands began to pull their wives away from the scene. I leaned over the roof just enough so I could see the two thugs were up off the ground and holding my Austria at gunpoint.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! Do you think I switch POV to much? Let me know what you think so I can improve! Thanks!**

: Chapter 12:

"Drop your weapons or the pretty girl gets pulverized" one of the thugs behind me ordered. What a great way to end your day out in the City, being held at gunpoint like the world's worst criminal. Yet, I was being held_ by_ criminals so you can imagine the ironies evolving around this whole situation. At least they had the heart to call me pretty though, but I hope Don wasn't around to hear that or these goons were really ganna get the beating of their lives.

I held my hands above my head and slowly walked towards the crowd as demanded by the thugs. I knew I shouldn't have been as worried as I was, but for some reason I had a feeling that even though I was practically invincible, every living thing can die somehow and I'm sure a few rounds from those automatic handguns through my skull might do the trick. So I played nice, like the little sweetheart I was and did what the big, bad meanies told me to.

"I said drop your weapons!" The goon yelled again while the cop in front of me, who had a very handsome mustache by the way, slowly nodded his head and knelt down on the ground and dropped his pistol. He slowly stood back up with his hands in a defensive position at his chest.

"Let's take it easy now. Don't do something you're going to regret." The cop's voice sounded brave, despite the fact that my life was at stake. He either didn't care or was very good at his job. "Now what is it that you would like?"

"The two freaks that showed us up" The thug poked me in the back with what I'm guessing was the muzzle on his gun. "This chick was with them. So if they want her to live, they'll show themselves and they'll do it in the next 5 minutes." They giggled sinisterly, making chills run up my spine.

I had to weigh the options here. Raph and Don had good reasons to come to my rescue, and good reason to not. Would they risk their own identities just to save me? I knew Don would in a heartbeat, but for all I know, Raph could be standing between me, and my death. Sometimes though, a person is only as good as their thoughts. Maybe I'm overthinking this whole rescue thing. Leo and Splinter had been teaching me some defensive moves and maybe, just maybe, I could deal with these assholes myself. Imagine the look on Leo's face when I tell him I took out two, full grown street thugs on my own. Plus, to put the icing on the cake, I could show off my new moves to a mutant turtle in specific who I knew was keeping a close eye on me.

"Let's have a lesson shall we. Lesson 1" I tilted my body forward and swung my right leg behind me, knocking the gun that was poking me in the back, out of the fat thug's hands "element of surprise." "Lesson 2" I knelt down and swung my leg around the ground, knocking the goon's legs out from underneath him and sending him plummeting to the floor "agility."

"Lesson 3!" Suddenly, Donatello came shooting down from the sky and landed right on top of the last thug. He flipped and landed safely on the ground "messing with my girl." He looked at me and illuminated like a Christmas tree. "I mean, messing with Austria"

"You had it right the first time. Oh and for the record, I had this covered" I pointed to the scene.

"Oh, then you knew this guy…" he poked the body on the ground with his staff. "Had a gun pointed to your head and was ready to fire?" He grinned but then caught himself and smiled innocently. He held his Bo-Staff vertically and grasped it with both of his hands, using it as support while he just stood there and looked at the awe stricken crowd of people.

Cameras were flashing; more news's trucks were arriving, and the police force arrested the two thugs who were moaning on the ground. People broke out of the yellow tape and flooded around Donatello and me but mostly him considering the odds. They touched his arms and smiled up at him like a bunch of puppies. Yet he still stood there and smiled like this kind of attention was completely normal to him.

"Sir Sir! Please can I have your name?" A man held out a microphone to his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you, but know something. New York City has a group of guardian angels and although you can't see us, we're here, and we always will be" He nodded his head, satisfied with his speech and then sheathed his staff. He proudly strolled over to me and put one arm behind my back, one under my legs, and then swept me off the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. His eyes widened and he smiled, showing his beautiful white teeth.

Don maneuvered around the crowd and ran into the alley way near the store. The crowd was behind us, screaming for answers and yelling out questions that all just sounded like a blur from here. He quickly jumped up the fire escape and landed on the roof before the mob even knew where we had gone. Above all the chaos, Raphael was waiting for us with his arms crossed and a tight grin on his face.

"Yah kick ass mutant girl I can give you that" He nodded his head in approval.

"Well, I did have some help" I smiled and patted Don's plastron as he carefully sat me down on the ground.

"TeeHee" He giggled. "Austria is the one who deserves all the credit. I had no idea you had a special skill for Ninjitsu."

"I don't. I have a skill for kicking bad guy booty!" I pumped my fist in the air and jumped up and down. This was a proud moment for me, if you couldn't already tell.

"I wouldn't be celebrating for too long. That mob was flashing photos like there was no tomorrow." Of course, Raph had to ruin the party by being legit. He was right though, and there was nothing we could do about it though so why worry.

"Well, hopefully Don's cute little speech will change their minds about how to head this event in the new paper." I stated.

"Cute? She thinks I'm cute" Don giggled again.

"She said yah speech was cute, moron." Raph playfully slapped his brother on the head. Like I said before, he's all too legit. Let poor Donnie have some fun.

"You're cute Don" I repeated.

"HA!" He pointed a finger in his brother's face and smiled triumphantly. Suddenly, dozens of helicopters flew overhead with huge spotlights, shining down on the scene below. A few made their way onto the roof and blew our cover and I guess when one shone on me, the blood from my gunshot wound drew Donnie's attention. He held his hands on my shoulders and began to look panicked but I simply smiled and told him I was alright. Just to ease his nerves, I pulled down the shoulder part of my shirt and showed him that there was no wound. The original entry point was a bit lower than I had thought and I suddenly noticed how his face had become as red as a tomato. He looked away and gave me a thumbs up.

"I'm still double checking when we get home"

"Sure you are" I gave him a tiny wink.

"I didn't mean…" He held his hand over his eyes and shook his head. I loved him to death but picking on him was just so much fun.

"You there! On the roof!" I loud voice boomed from overhead.

"Time to split!" Raph called the shots and urged us off the open roof and into the safety of the ally way. We carefully descended down and used the dark corridors to make our way to the nearest manhole. We pulled the lid off and prepared to evacuate this hell hole. No pun intended.

"Wait!" My head snapped to the left where a figure was standing just a few yards away from us. Once the light from the helicopter skimmed overhead, I saw it was the cop with the mustache who had tried to save my life back when I was being held by the thugs. Don and Raph drew their weapons but stayed in a relaxed position. The cop was alone and didn't pose any sudden threats.

"What do yah want?" Raph growled.

"I saw the girl was shot and wanted to give her medical help" He was kind and sincere but I still felt Don shift his weight behind me as the cop moved closer to us. He brought his staff across my body like a seatbelt. I thought maybe he was being a bit too over dramatic but this guy was a cop and sometimes they can be a bit unpredictable.

"We have it covered" Don said

"If you don't mind me asking…" He stopped moving once Raph took an offensive position. At this this guy got the message and slowly took a few steps back. "How are you not hurt?" He asked sounding bewildered.

"I uh…wasn't shot. This is that old guy's blood that I saved back there and…yeah" I smiled awkwardly.

"That man had no flesh wounds" The cop didn't sound…angry, he sounded understanding, like he already knew why I hadn't been injured.

"Your experiment 450063" He smiled but wouldn't be for long. Don and Raph jumped into action, the cop was pulled into the alley and pinned against the back wall by a purple masked turtle. He held his staff horizontally across the cops neck and suspended him a few feet in the air. "Please! I mean you no harm!" He struggled to break free as Raphael shoved Don out of the way used the tip of his Sai to trace the outline of the officers face. "Please…" his face started to turn blue, and then purple. "Let me explain!" but he wouldn't listen so of course, the woman had to interfere and make things right.

"Let's hear what he has to say!" I yelled. Don looked at me and raised a brow. He hesitated for a second but then pushed Raphael away so the man's legs were no longer dangling above the ground.

"If he tries anything…" Don frowned.

"I know I know" I turned to the officer and nodded "Go ahead."

"My name is Nathan Reese, and I was one of the scientists at the laboratory you were created in." He still looked afraid but stayed strong in his appearance. He lifted his head high when he spoke which probably set Raph on edge. "We thought you were killed years ago by your father who swore to destroy you for your own safety, but it looks like he didn't have the heart." He smiled at me brightly. I was started to get the liking for this guy. The mustache was probably helping too because it looked absolutely fabulous. "But when I saw you survived that gunshot wound I knew it was you. You walked out carrying that old man with a hole in your shoulder, then the next time I saw you, it had completely vanished."

"So am I ganna have to kill you, now that you know she's alive?" Raph grinned.

"No, because I volunteered to be experimented on once we started to test your ability to transport your powers into another human body." Nathan stated

"Wait. How is that possible? Only one subject survived and I read through all the papers." Don sheathed pulled his staff away from Raphael and released Nathan from his grasp.

"Yes, only one did survive." He nodded at Don who suddenly became interested in this person.

"So you must be the survivor! I have so many questions for you!" Don grabbed Nathan's hand and shook it in both of his. "What about you was different that made the transfer successful? Did it even work? Are you immune like Austria is?" He started exploding with all these questions that I couldn't even keep up with to tell you what they were.

"Austria? What does the lonely state in western Europe have anything to do with this?" Nathan chuckled

"No, her name is Austria" Don placed a hand behind my back and smiled.

"What a lovely name. Excuse me for calling you by your experiment number" He bowed his head. Its official, I love this guy. "As for all your questions, I would love to answer them"

"You can come back to our lair!"

"Don are you insane! We aint bringin this scum back to our lair. Let's not forget what happened last time we let someone down there!" Raph threw his arms in the air and growled.

"Relax Raphie! This guy knows what he's talking about, he even knew Austria's…" He stopped.

"Experiment number? It's ok to say it Don I won't be offended." I laughed but appreciated his kindness as he looked at me and smiled.

"Besides, I have so many questions that need to be answered! We could figure everything out, even down to what's up with the Purple Dragons!" He was just all too excited for anyone to say no to him. I think Raph liked that last part about the Dragons because he sighed and slowly approved.

"But first… Raph walked up to Nathan and held his hand out. "Weapons, pepper spray, receivers, whatever; you aint goin nowhere until it's all gone and out of your possession." Nathan, willingly, unhooked his belt, emptied his pockets and even took a small pistol from under the leg of his pants and handed them to the angry turtle. He threw them into a nearby dumpster and shut the lid.

"If you try anything at all…" Raph pulled out a Sai "I'll skewer you and serve you to the rats. And just to be sure…" He pulled off his bandana and tied it around Nathan's head so he couldn't see. "And remember, you're only coming down to give us information, then your outta here." Raph jumped down the manhole and helped lower Nathan into it. "If anything happens Donnie so help me God…"

"It'll be fine Raphie! Think about Austria"

"First of all, don't call me Raphie. Second of all, I aint thinkin about her any more than I have to" He disappeared below with the Officer.

"Thanks Raph. You sure do know how to make someone feel warm and fuzzy inside" I rolled my eyes and allowed Donnie to help me get underground (even though I didn't really need help *wink wink).

"So what's with you and saving me ass?" I asked him as we descended down the ladder. I heard him chuckle and couldn't help but laugh a bit myself. It was quite Ironic how he kept rescuing me so many times.

"I'm not very good at keeping you out of trouble I guess." He giggled and helped hop off the ladder once we reached the bottom.

"Maybe I get into trouble on purpose." I cupped his cheek in my hand. He placed his hand over mine and smiled lightly and looked like he was about to fall asleep. We never got much time alone expect for when Leo was…you know.

"Are you guys commin or what?" Raph yelled from somewhere down the sewers. See, no time alone and even when we do get a few seconds of peace, I can never fix my eyes off of his gaze long enough for us to kiss or even have one frickin hug for crying out loud! If he would stop being so adorable, we could actually get somewhere in life but no. God had to make him absolutely perfect and make my life a living hell.

Don took my hand off his face and awkwardly wrapped his three fingers in between my five and kissed them one by one. My stomach exploded with butterflies and must have sensed my uneasiness and simply smiled at me.

"Jumpy"

I lightly slapped his shoulder and started to walk down the sewers. "You would do the same thing if the love of your life actually made a move on you." Ow, my face hurt from all the intense smiling.

"Then for the record, you chose to walk away" He chuckled and ran up beside me and held my hand again. I stopped the little love train and faced him.

"If you…" I choked on my words once he started to innocently smile down at me. "Don't look at me like that" I turned around and kept walking.

"Why?" He giggled. "Afraid you'll like it?"

I stopped abruptly and jumped around to smack him but he laughed and cowered away. "Afraid I'll like what Donatello?" I'm glad it was dark down here so he couldn't see my extremely red cheeks.

"Nothing…OW!" I slapped him (Flirtatiously) and he grabbed my arms to prevent me from wailing on him again. "Why do you abuse me so much?!" We both feel down into the dirty sewer water from the struggle, laughing our asses off like a bunch of drunken hyenas.

"I wish I had my camera" I leaned my head on his plastron on shut my eyes.

"Why? So you can hit me with it?" He stroked the back of my head, soaking it with disgusting blah water.

"Yeah, so I can hit you with it." We giggled but the fun was rudely disturbed by the very pissed off Raphael who stomped over to us and held his hands across his chest.

"We were just coming" I smiled angelically. Behind him was Nathan who looked at us with a great curiosity.

"I thought maybe you two had something going just by observing the way this one protects you" He smiled. Don picked me up in his arms and stood up out of the water.

"I'm Donatello, for the record"

"Yes, and I'm Nathan and I think this is the start of a very good relationship Donatello."


	13. Chapter 13

: Chapter 13:

"Ok listen" Raph stopped us once we reached the door to the lair. "Leo aint ganna like this and I aint ganna sit around and listen to him whine like a little girl. So if he says Nathan's gotta go, he's goin. Capeesh?" He pointed to every single one of us and waited for a nod except for Nathan who was still blindfolded with Raphael's red bandana.

"I assure you if there's any trouble with your father "Leonardo" I will leave immediately." He promised.

"He aint our father, he's our brother." Raph slowly opened the door to the lair, keeping Nathan behind us for now, and allowed him, Don and I to walk in first. It was about 4:00 in the morning and when we strolled in, there was a beautiful welcoming party waiting for us.

"Where have you three been?!" Leo was the first to waltz over with his hands in the air like a crazy person/turtle. He looked so furious that even I had to cower behind Don in fear the angry leader would lash out and start dishing out punches. "Do you know how long we've been looking for you?! Splinter and I told you all that it's not safe out there and you go any…" He stopped talking and pulled Donatello to the side so I was standing out in the open with my fingers entangled in my long brown hair. I tried my best to cover my blood stained shirt but it was useless. He slowly crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at me.

"Hehe…IT WAS RAPH'S IDEA!" I shot my arm out and pointed it at the turtle in question.

"You little!..." Raph lunged for me but was intercepted my Leonardo's hand against his plastron.

"Is that true Raphael? Because I certainly believe it." He scolded

"You aint in charge of us Leonardo!" Raph's voice was starting to become more anger driven as the conversation dragged on.

"But _I am_ Raphael! I told you not to leave the den and you deliberately disobeyed my wishes and to make matters worse, you took Austria with you!" I had never seen splinter so upset until now. He made Leo step out of the way so he could get closer to his son. "If you can't protect your group then you do not bring them with you! That is the one rule I have taught you all to follow for the last 16 years! that is also why Leonardo is the leader of your brothers and not you. Look at her, she's injured and now you must take blame for it." Splinter paused for a moment to let his words sink in. I knew because that's what it was doing to me. I felt bad that Splinter and Leo were only yelling at Raph though. It was partly my fault because I'm the one who dragged Donnie into it.

"Donatello, I am most disappointed in you." Splinter had lowered his voice but he still sounded distressed. "I expected more from my second eldest."

"It wasn't his fault Splinter, I made him go." I confessed

"No she didn't! It was my choice and my choice alone."

"I understand you re trying to defend her Donatello; but I know you would not have gone out your own my son." Splinter nodded to Don and then turned to Raphael and frowned.

"So are you going to tell us where you were?" Leo chimed in.

"Shouldn't you already know? Aint you Leo the great and powerful?" Raph smirked and pretended to bow.

"I already know. I just want you to admit it." Boy could Leo mess with your head. He could mold and shape it like play-dough until he got it just how he wanted it.

"We were just out on the town, nothing to extreme." I smiled

"You call that…" He grabbed my shirt where it was stained with blood. "Not extreme?"

"Give me that!" I swiped it from his hand "and no, because I'm not hurt."

"So, if you weren't invincible and that gunshot would have killed you, would you say the same thing?" He smirked and boy did that drive me insane.

"No, because first of all, I would be dead; second of all, I wouldn't be saying anything because if I wasn't immortal I would already be dead from the first one!" I got up in his face. "And if the first gunshot from my dad didn't do the trick, I'm sure the car accident would have!" I yelled, obviously trying to make my point.

"That's not the point Austria!" He yelled back.

"Then what is the point Leo?!" I popped a hip.

"The point is…whether you're immortal or not, it's not safe out there. The Purple Dragons are smarter than they look." He seemed to be calming down a bit judging by his tone of voice. As he started to back off, so did I, knowing I was right of course.

"You still didn't answer my question." He changed the subject.

"I just did!" I started to get frustrated again.

"Then explain…" Leo stepped through the crowd to where Raph was waiting close to the door. He shoved past the mask less brother and pulled Nathan out of the darkness. "This."

"Hello." Nathan smiled and waved his hand, still blinded. I saw Don cover his eyes with his hand and shake his head in disapproval. "I do say your hands are quite cold"

"My hearts colder" He lifted his hand up to Nathan's face and took off Raphael's bandana and handed it to him. "Sadly, my skills aren't strong enough yet so you need to tell me why you're here." Leo was being nice to a complete stranger and not his own brothers? And me?!

"Well…" Nathan told Leo, Splinter and Michelangelo, who was staying awkwardly quiet the whole time, the whole story. He told them how he was an experiment in the final days of testing and came here so Donatello could do some research on the matter. Don had told me, way back when, that Leo usually let him run his research projects even when the leader felt uneasy about it. It was one of the few rights given to his brothers, the right to do as thy will with thy experiments.

"We can trust him Leo I promise. He helped us during the robbery." Don gave one of his sweet, innocent puppy eyed looks to his big brother.

"What?" He suddenly became angry again. Don, I love you, but sometimes it's just good to be quiet.

"I thought you would have known about it already!" The purple masked turtle shuddered.

"How would I have known about that?"

"You said you already knew!" Raph exclaimed

"I didn't know _exactly_ where you were! A robbery? I can't believe you guys!"

"Once again….IT WAS RAPH'S IDEA!" I pointed to Raph again who this time, had a neat clean path straight to me. He lunged on top of me and threw me on the ground. I instantly kicked him off and tried to run away until Leo had the back of my shirt and wrapped one arm around my torso. He tried to catch Raph who luckily, got away in time to remain free.

"Enough!" He pointed to me and pulled his finger away just in time before I could bite it off. "Do I have to watch you guys like your little children!?"

"Now you know how I feel" Splinter sighed, making Mikey giggle.

"Buddy" Nathan walked up to Raphael who was steaming like kettle and looked ready to explode into a million pieces. His biceps and face were shined like he had just taken a dip in a pool. "Calm down, take a few deep breaths." Nathan put his hand behind Raph's neck and miraculously, made the angry turtle unclench his fists. He was still breathing heavily but at least we knew he wouldn't try and tear Leo's head off anymore.

"I use to work with a group of teenagers back before I was called for service. I had one boy in particular who had the same anger problems as you seem to have. Turns out, he was a real nice kid who just had a lot of buttons that could be pushed." Nathan backed away and nodded his head.

Raph grunted and smirked "Tell me about it doc." He took a deep breath and walked away from the group with his head high in the air.

"You're like a turtle whisperer!" Mikey cheered.

"Thank you…" He gestured to the orange masked turtle

"Michelangelo but they just call me Mikey for short"

"Well, thank you Michelangelo" He nodded again. "Now, is my staying here going to be a problem? If so, I will leave in a heartbeat. I only wish to help you understand the things you wish to know about Austria." Nathan really seemed like a good guy, I knew I could trust him but judging by the look on Leo's face, it would be a close call. He looked to splinter for consultation.

"It is in your best judgment my son." Sometimes I wished I could understand all these complex sentences that Master Splinter always seemed to leave hanging in the air.

"Fine, but you're out of here before ten." Leo released me and returned to whatever he was doing before all the bedlam erupted. I actually couldn't believe April and Casey slept through all that.

"Right this way " Donnie led Nathan across the lair and over the little bridge but not before shooting me a gentle smile and wave of the hand.

"Soo…" Mikey had his hands behind his back and shuffled over to me. "How was it?" He raised his eyebrows up and down and had a huge smirk on his face.

"What do you mean 'how was it?'" I looked at him in disgust and walked off but if there's one thing you should know about living with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it's that you can't ever get Michelangelo to leave you alone even when you tried. "Oh come on!" He ran up beside me and threw one arm around my neck. "I'm awfully curious. Although, I guess not much could happen since Raph was there."

"What do you want me to say Mikey?! We had sex under the moonlit sky while Raph stood there and watched?!" I couldn't believe I just said that let alone, how loud I said it. I turned around to make sure Don didn't hear but of course, nothing ever goes my way. He was staring at us with his lips tightened and cheeks bursting with color. Nathan cleared his throat and scratched an eyebrow, obviously feeling rather embarrassed. I guys Leo heard it too because he walked over to us and whisper/yelled.

"You better watch what you say because Splinter will knock you clean on your back, whether you're a girl or not." He warned.

"Oh, so just Splinter?" I asked

"Huh?"

"Wait…I just said that and you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"I just said..." I lowered my voice. "I just said we had sex…"

He looked at me opened his arms. "I don't care as long as Splinter doesn't know about it." He began to walk away but I ran up and stopped him.

"We didn't really…" I was slightly smiling on the inside. I had no idea Leo could be and was this laid back.

"I know, I'm just saying." He started to walk away again but I stepped in front of him. I suddenly was curious as to how much he knew about Don and me, and why in the hell he would approve of something like that being the uptight leader he was.

"So you know that Don and I are together?" I blocked his path to make sure he couldn't walk away again.

"Um…we all do. Splinter knows but, not to the extent that I do."

Holy crap, I completely forgot he can do that weird, mind reading thing or whatever it was. What if he saw everything! Ah! I mean it's not like we did anything bad, but still we had some heart to heart conversations!

"Are you spying?"

"Why would I spy on you two? There's nothing really to spy on anyway." He grinned. At this point, Mikey had hopped over and joined the conversation in the middle of the lair.

"Sooo…" I dug the tip of my sneaker into the floor and put my hands behind my back. "You wouldn't care if…" I didn't really want to say it so I let his ninja magic powers take over. I knew though that Don was _way_ too innocent to want to have any sexual affection together. So me asking Leo about this was more of me trying to see how far I could push him.

"I have three rules." He held up his three green fingers.

"Oh no not the rules…" Mikey shook his head.

"Wait…you guys have had this conversation before?!" I couldn't believe it. I've been friends with these guys for almost four months now and I never knew that they've had the sex talk already. I'm still debating if mutant turtles can even have sex!

"Yes! We're not aliens Austria, we have normal human conversations." Leo was smiling and even starting to laugh a little at my idiocy. Oh yeah like I'm supposed to already know the actions and natural feelings of turtles.

"So…it is possible?" I asked.

"Oh my God" Mikey threw his hands in the air and grabbed Leo and I's arms and pulled us threw the hallway and into the dojo. "Don seriously hasn't explained that to you?" We sat down on the floor in a small circle. This entire conversation was so weird and so un-normal but for some reason, I wanted to have it. It was almost like a bonding time for Mikey, Leo and I and as you can see, Leo and I especially needed it.

"No! Are you kidding me? Don is too innocent to explain that kind of stuff so that's where you guys step in because we're all friends and friends who are mutants and don't have human body parts explain those kinds of things." I smiled and criss crossed my legs. The looks I got following my statement were those of someone in a great deal of confusion. Mikey started bursting out laughing and Leo just started at me and shook his head.

"What!?" I laughed

"We need Raph for this one!" Mikey yelled

"No No No!" No, please don't bring him in here.

"Mikey sit down." Leo grabbed his arm before he could go get the hotheaded turtle. "If the girl wants to know, then I think she deserves to know. Let's try and keep Raph out of these conversations though ok?"

"Ok Ok" Mikey looked at me and grinned. "I've always wanted to have someone to talk to about this stuff besides my Bro's."

"You're much too excited about this." I rolled my eyes.

"OK, so the reason I almost died laughing was because you said we didn't have 'human body parts.'"

"Well I don't know!" I threw my hands in the air.

"Listen! All animals have, how do I put this nicely, reproductive organs. We're animals, mutant or not and the package comes with it." Mikey explained.

"Oh my god…" I shook my head. "Ok that's good to know I guess."

"Now I'm sure you're wondering if…" Leo shot Mike a look before letting him continue.

"Watch it Michelangelo."

"Relax Bro! Ahem anyway, the answer is yes."

"EW!" I exploded. "You obviously know that by experience!"

"SHH!" They both yelled

"How in the world…" How was that possible?! You couldn't even see…it, at least from the outside anyway.

"Ask Raph" Leo nodded

"WHAT!?"

"SHHHH!" Leo slapped his hand over my mouth. "Scratch that. Don't ask Raph." He smiled. I pulled his hand away from my mouth that by now was dropped all the way open.

"Ew ew ew ew ew! Raph's a turtle slut?!" I squealed

"NO! Not exactly, and you asked" he grinned.

"Why is that ew? IT'S A NATURAL PROCESS!" Mikey laughed

"Michelangelo I swear to God if you don't shut up!" Leo raised a fist and made Mikey cower.

"Sorry hehe. But I guess now she's ganna be curious…" he raised his brow up and down, distorting his mask. I had no words to say to him and no, it's not because it was true….

"You leave her alone, got it? Same goes for Don." Leo stood up off the ground and helped me up. "Your right about one thing though Aussie. Don's very shy so I wouldn't worry about it." He smiled.

"What am I worrying about?"

"If your ganna get laid…" Mikey whispered in my ear which drew the last straw. I dropped Leo's hand that I realized I was holding and charged after the turtle that started cracking up and running around the dojo. I chased him down the hallway and into the lair where we got looks from everybody including Donatello and Nathan. April and Casey came walking down the stairs still in their PJ's. Casey shook his head and laughed while April rolled her eyes and moaned. He ran across the bridge but that's where I stopped. I knew what he was doing and I was being no part of it.

"Look Don I found your girlfriend. I got her warmed up for you!" He rubbed his hands together and chuckled.

"Mikey I'm ganna skin you alive and turn your shell into a soup bowl!" I threatened.

"Go annoy April or something Mikey." Don lightly shoved his brother away.

"NO do not!" She yelled from in the kitchen.

"Leo and I had to have 'the talk' with her Don because you wouldn't" Mikey snickerd and poked his brother in the shoulder.

"Oh no…" He looked at me with sympathy. "Leo didn't tell you the three rules did he?"

"No, but now I need to know!" I crossed the bridge and joined Don, Mikey and a very confused Nathan Reese.

"That's ok…" Don blushed and turned away from me.

"Well you have to tell me sooner or later" I popped a hip then sat down on the table in front of him. He looked at me, then at Mikey with that sweet innocent smile and big eyed confusion.

"No I don't. You can leave me to worry about that kind of stuff."

"Wooaaah!" Mikey started laughing and smacking his hands together.

"That's not what I meant you no-brain" Don shook his head.

"I guess I'm a no-brain too because I thought the same thing" I smiled and leaned back a bit from laughing.

"You see Aus? He's got it _all_ planned out for yah." Mikey smacked Donnie's shell.

He laughed softly, then put both his hands gently on my knees and leaned his head against mine. I knew Nathan was probably wondering: "What kind of messed up relationship is this?" but honestly I really didn't care at this point. Girls like me and guys like Don didn't get along very well with other people so I'm going to take what we have now, and own it even if the whole world has to watch and deny it.


	14. Chapter 14

: Chapter 14: (Inside the Swordsman)

Weeks have past, since the attack on our cozy, little place we like to call home. So far, things have been pretty easy for us down here. Frequent news updates from out in the City give us all the information we need about the purple dragons. Their actions have becoming more and more obvious as dozens of crimes relating to the gang, explode all over the news.

Austria has been doing extremely well with her training. So well that I might have to give up my swords for good. Since Sensei and I refused to teach her offensive moves, she either taught herself, or has been having secret night sessions with Raphael who was itching to see how far he could push her. I suppose he got his wish though because a few days ago, Austria thought it would be just the funniest thing in the world to sneak up on me while I was sharpening my swords in the dojo. Yes, she snuck up on me and if you've forgotten already, I'm one of the best trained ninjas amongst my brothers and I have no idea how she pulled it off but she did. I screamed so loud I was afraid the Dragons might have found out our location. The worst part was, never in the last 16 years have any of my brothers been able to do to me what she just did in a few weeks.

I have to be honest though, she had serious talent even if she did get on my nerves a little, ok a lot. You can tell in her fighting, that she has a hidden passion for learning the art of Ninjitsu, even if she refuses to admit it. One night, Sensei wanted all of us, including Austria, to team up and dual. The teams obviously were uneven so he put Raphael, Donatello and I in one group and Michelangelo and Austria in another. It was almost a slap in the face from our own father. Mikey was the worst fighter within the turtles and Austria was just starting off. The odds seemed completely in our favor and victory bounced around in our heads way before the match even started. When we began, Aus straight away went for Raph first and would have had him down if Donnie hadn't jumped in and saved his ass. Her passionate spirit wouldn't let her give up though, she tried again but this time, took Donnie out first which was a _huge_ surprise only because I was pretty sure they had a thing going on. He brushed it off though and admitted defeat quietly. I would have a few words with him later and find out he was actually extremely upset about her attack towards him but that's a story to come.

Raph took Mikey out no problem and he succeeded with only a few bumps on his head from our little brother's blunt weapons. So it came down to Raph and me against Austria and boy did we underestimate her. We thought it would be a quick win but she actually held her ground against us. Of course we won, but the entire room was shocked at how long she defended herself against the endless attacks from sai's and swords. Sensei even bowed to her at the end of the match and awarded her with the title as "most improved" student. Me being the "teacher's pet", or as Raph puts it, and all, I was a bit offended by his praise towards her and not the rest of us. I shook it off though and threw it in the back of my head, for now.

Nathan Reese, the City cop that we took in after a robbery near Times Square, is still with us against Sensei's and my own wishes. Turns out he was actually who he said he was and Donnie refused to let me kick him out until all the information needed was collected. That was a week ago. I knew my brother Don though; it never took him one full week to run tests or whatever he does so I made him come out and admit that this guy was here for reasons unrelated to the original reason he was here in the first place. Casey Jones, the crazy whack job friend of Raphael's and husband to April O'Neil (now April Jones), was on my side regarding his presence here. Nathan was a good man and all, very respectful about his place amongst us and never questioned my authority over him, but the reason Casey didn't like him, was because it turns out that he was an ex-boyfriend of April's in High-School. Nathan did tell us though, that he was "happily" married and had two beautiful twin girls and swore that any feelings he had for April, were extinct. The best part though, was watching Casey follow that man around like a hidden camera, watching his every move until I would give the O.K that Nathan could depart from the lair. Casey even bribed me with money just to get me to make him leave but money had little to no meaning to me and a good leader never takes bribes and follows his own rules and the rule was that Don could keep him here until his research was completed.

Donatello and Austria had grown somewhat distant from each other ever since the spar. I pulled him aside one night when I noticed Austria was trying to get his attention but he had ignored her presence.

"Don what's going on with you and Austria?" I had said after pulling him into my bedroom, against his will, and sitting him down on the bed.

"Nothing." If you knew my brother Donnie well, you knew that whenever he said "nothing," it actually meant there was a war going on inside his shell that he was trying to fight on his own.

"You seem a little, upset about something." I was no psychiatrist, but when my brothers needed an ear to listen to their problems, I was always there for them, even if I didn't know what to say in return.

"I just…remember when we fought in the dojo?" His voice was so quiet that could barely make out what he was saying.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I don't know, Austria attacked me and I was just a little shocked I guess. I know I shouldn't shun her like I just did. I should go fix things." Don went to get up off the bed but I grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"Is that all?"

"Yes" He looked down at me with his big, innocent eyes and gave a small smile.

"You sure?"

"Yes Leo."

"Sit." I pulled him back down while he rolled his eyes and sighed. "What's going on?"

He hesitated for a minute and then in a deep breath. Here we go. "I'm worried about her Leo! I'm worried about everything! I can't sleep at night, I can't eat, and I can't think straight, I'm worrying nonstop and it's all coming down on me like gravity on a rubber ball being dropped from the Empire State Building! I feel like everyone's problems are weighing on me and I'm trying to fix them and I can't and I keep finding out things from Mr. Reese and I was hoping to answer our questions but all it's doing is raising _more _questions! I'm so stressed…" Don covered his face with his hands and leaned his body against my shoulder.

I wrapped my arm around him and patted his shell to try and comfort him. We rarely ever saw Donatello break down like he just had. Something like this happened a few years ago when April and Casey got married. He locked himself up in his room for days and wouldn't come out. The only thing we heard coming from his room where small sobs and occasional outcry's. Whenever he was having emotional problems he always dealt with them on his own and blocked out the rest of the world so I felt honored to have been the one for him to open up to. A few sobs escaped his mouth but no tears had found their way from his eyes.

I could feel my brother's pain, literally. I felt my own eyes become hot with tears and my throat started to dry from the oncoming emotional hurricane. One of two instincts kicked in for me then, either my instinct as an achieved "sorcerer" in terms, or my natural instinct as a brother. Each of us had our own way of dealing with stress and one very rarely turned to the other for comfort unless I forced them to talk. One of the reason's my brothers and I are so successful is because we know we can count on each other when things got tuff, physically and emotionally. So sitting here watching Donnie cry on my shoulder was a real breaking point for me since he, like I said, was the one who dealt with his stress privately. So now I had to think of a way to comfort him but I had to be extremely careful because like our little brother Michelangelo, he took things to heart.

Our sensei use to scold Mike and Don about their abilities to take insults and words so literally and told them it was an embarrassment and a sign of weakness. I agreed with him for the longest time but it became one of the reasons Don became so solitary over the years. He didn't want to be seen as a kink in the system that we were trying to form our team around so he withdrew himself from us.

"Don…" I gave him a minute to get ahold of himself before I would begin to give him all the advice I could. Once I heard his sobs come to a stop, he lifted his head off my shoulder and took off his mask so he could wipe his tearless eyes.

"I'm sorry." He rubbed his eyes then put his mask back on. He took a few deep breaths and prepared to listen.

"I'm supposed to be the one that worries about everything, not you Donnie. You've got a girl to think about. I want you to focus on Austria and that's it. Don't worry about me, don't worry about Raph and Mike, and don't worry about anyone or anything. Take a few minutes before you think you're going to break down and just remind yourself what's really important." I put an arm on his shoulder and smiled. He hesitated for a moment, and then returned the gesture.

"Thanks Leo, I'll try." He slowly stood up off the bed, as to make sure I was finished talking with him. I nodded and told him if he needed anything else that I was always ready to listen. He slowly left my room, but not before making me swear that I wouldn't tell Austria about the emotional rollercoaster he had just been on.

The next few days had proved a huge improvement in Donnie's behavior. Him and Austria looked happy again and spent as much time together as they could. She came to me a few hours later and told me she was going to ask for my advice on how to deal with Donnie, but he came and apologized right before she could do it. Her and Don are too much alike though. She asked me if she should have apologized first since she thought it was her fault that Don was behaving the way he was. I kept true to my promise with my brother and only told her about the sparing incident. She immediately understood why he felt that way and took off to find him and talk it out. I was glad that they could work it out. Those were the kind of situations that drew people together.

Yet, I noticed my like for their relationship had become, dull, in a sense. When I had first met Austria, I had completely supported her relationship with Donnie, but as she spent more and more time with us, I began to see a different side of her. A side that I guess I was slightly attracted to. No one knows how I feel about her and I'm going to keep it that way. Austria had begun to show her more, sensitive side. Her sensitive side to me was whatever side she wasn't using to completely defy me and go against everything I said. She spent more time getting to know us and figuring us out, not in a weird way either. Although, I made sure not to spend too much time alone with her for reasons you already know. I already caught myself holding onto her hand after we had that "conversation" in the dojo with Michelangelo.

I caught myself debating over whether it was Donnie's or my right to have her as a companion. After all, I did meet her first way back when we were young and I found her on the roof of her house. Even though I had these feelings, I would never take her away from my brother after everything he's been through; including the love spurt he had for April O'Neil right before she had become April jones. I also knew that having a "girlfriend" would just slow me down in my role as the leader of this group.

Even though I knew I could never have her, is it a crime to still have feelings about someone? I guess up until the point one becomes selfish over his/her emotions. Love and all of that isn't in my department so I have no idea what I'm supposed to think and as you can tell, I can't go ask Donnie what _he _thinks. Raph was out of the question too. All he knew how to do was swear and slaughter the dojo dummies. April and Casey wouldn't understand a turtle's feelings, not that there any different from a human's. Sensei is left in the dark when it comes to our personal lives and it's not that he doesn't want to be a part of it, it's just because we choose not to tell him, so that left Michelangelo.

Even though he was practically a child, and towered over us in stature, he was the most trustworthy out of all my brothers. If you told him that you were planning on blowing up the Great Pyramid of Giza, he wouldn't tell a living soul. But my brothers and I had our own little "connections" if you will. Raph and I were more bonded with each other while Don and Mikey were practically best friends. It was mainly because the hothead and I were more alike, believe it or not, and the same goes for the other two. So as you can see, even though I trust Mikey with everything I have, I wouldn't risk it. Sometimes, like Don, it's just best to keep certain feelings to yourself because they might end up hurting someone. I'm just hoping in the future that these emotions go away before they start affecting my performance in training and become too noticeable.


	15. Chapter 15

: Chapter 15:

After a peaceful night's sleep, which is rare, I opened my eyes to the dark brick walls that were my room. This place got a little creepy after a while with its humming and dark, shadowy corners. I sat up on my bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I forced my body to get up out from under the soft, protective sheets and get dressed into a pair of jeans and simple plain T-shirt and go to the small, cracked mirror to put my rats nest into a ponytail. While I stroked my fingers through my long, tangled hair, I looked at myself through the mirror for the first time in a _long_ time. I had never noticed how dark my eyes were turning. They use to be a beautiful light green but now they're just a dark, ugly looking jade color. I ran my fingers over the outline of my face. My long, dirt covered nails scratched the surface of my chalky skin as they went down. I really didn't find myself very attractive right now and I started to wonder why Donnie even liked me. Suddenly, there was a small tap at the door and April walked in.

"Hey sweetie, here's a few books that I'm finished with that I thought you might like."

"Thanks, you can just set them on my bed."

I saw her through my mirror as she bent down and placed a mile high stack of books on my bed. She wiped her hands on her pants and then turned and looked at me. She walked up and joined me at the mirror and placed her hands on my shoulders. For a while we just stood there and looked out our reflections. She was beautiful for her age. Pretty carrot colored hair and the most beautiful, full, red lips. She sighed and turned my body towards her.

"How would you like a makeover?" She smiled.

"Hey, what are you trying to say?" I laughed

"HaHa, no I'm not trying to say anything. I think your letting yourself go a bit, I mean look at these nails." She lifted up my right hand and showed me the disaster I carried.

"I like them, isn't that all that matters?"

"You cannot possibly like these." She ran one of her soft hands down my cheeks and frowned. "Yeah, you don't have a choice. Here let's go" She grabbed my wrist and skipped out of the room with me dragging behind her.

"No no no no! I'm not a girly girl!" I tried to fight her but she had a snake like death grip on my arm.

"You won't know unless you try. I'm sure Don would like to see what you look like out of your comfort zone." She pulled me into her room where Casey was sitting at a small desk trying to do something with his shoe laces.

"Casey dear, could we have the room please?" She asked her husband politely.

"Oh yeah, sure thing babe." He smiled and stumbled out of his chair. He kissed the top of April's forehead and left the room with a smile on his face.

"Alright, now let's see…" April grabbed my long brown hair and twisted it in her fingers. "A _long _makeover."

"April come on…"

"Austria, you wanna know something?" She asked me while pulling out clothes from her suitcase. "I can't physically have kids."

"Oh…" I didn't know what to say to that.

"I know, and I've always wanted a daughter. Ever since I was a little girl I had planned out everything her and I would do together. We would go to the movies, get makeovers and go shopping." She smiled and nodded at the memory. "She would be just like me and I wanted to spoil her rotten. Then, when I was 18, my stupid ovaries got infected and had to be removed. I still kept my hopes high though; I wouldn't let that stop me. Then a few years later I met the guys. They weren't exactly, daughters, but they certainly filled the empty spot I had in my heart, until I met Casey that is." She walked over to me and held up a green, flowing shirt to my torso. She shook her head and went back to the suitcase. "I guess ever since I met you, you were kind of that long lost daughter to me. Now it was like I had sons _and_ daughters."

"But…didn't Donnie…"

"Like me? Yeah, and I liked him for a while too. I mean I like liked him and for the longest time it seemed. I never told him how I felt though because I thought, well, being with a mutant turtle just… wasn't normal. Now I know that he and I weren't meant to be because you came along. You could give him something that I wouldn't be able to." She walked back over to me.

"What…kids?!"

"NO! Oh my geezers Austria." She laughed and held up a white blouse to my chest. "I mean love and compassion. I was just too busy at the time to settle down."

"But you settled down for Casey…"

"I settled down with Casey because I felt something with him that I didn't feel for Donatello. For those reasons, I was willing to put my life on hold and marry him because I loved him, even if he did get on my nerves, a lot." She laughed and laid the shirt on her bed. "Now…what color should we do your nails?"

"Wo girlfriend" I waved my fingers across my face. "You are NOT doing my nails."

"Excuse me girl?" She repeated my gestures and it made me laugh watching her try and be hip. "We're ganna give you a whole manicure! It's going to be so much fun I promise!"

"Your definition of _fun_ is probably just a little bit different than mine." I nodded.

"Oh stop complaining and go jump in the shower."

"What kind of insult is "go jump in the shower?" I asked but maybe it was just an adult thing, having _really_ bad comebacks.

"It's not an insult; I'm serious go jump in the shower and here." She handed me two bottles of shampoo and a holey rock. "Rinse, lather, repeat, get the calluses off your feet." She did a little hop and pushed me out the door, across the hall, and into the bathroom.

**: Leo's POV:**

"All I'm sayin is that we can't hide forever. We gotta find the dragons and take em' out before they attack us first!" Raph slammed his fist on the table, making our bowls of cereal wobble around.

"I agree with Raph, we better attack now while we have the element of surprise." Don nodded his head in agreement.

"Nathan, do you know anything at all about the Purple Dragons?" I asked the petite man sitting across from me at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"I'm afraid not. I do know, however, that they use to occupy an abandoned warehouse near the east side of the City. I'm not sure if they're there anymore though." He frowned.

"Yeah there not, at least last time I checked they weren't" This investigation was getting more complicated the longer it dragged on.

"Maybe they're not even in New York City. Maybe they have refuge somewhere else." Don suggested

"Guys listen; we have to take a few things into consideration. Remember that this Hunter character is working for them and he escaped our lair and we don't know what he's capable of. Raph, I'm not so sure if the Dragons are completely in the dark concerning our whereabouts considering they attacked us once already. I'm guessing the Dragons figured we relocated since when they attacked, half the team wasn't here. So maybe, instead of sitting around and waiting, we should lure them into a trap AWAY from the lair may I add." I hadn't realized I had stood up out of my chair; I sat back down and cleared my throat. "So? What do you think?"

"I like it." Don instantly agreed. "But having a trap means setting bait and the only good bait we have…is Austria which is_ not _happening."

"I forgot the Dragons attacked us." Mikey had his feet up on the table and was leaning back in his chair.

"That's because you weren't here when it happened." I smacked his huge green feet off the table.

"But if the dragons know where we are…why haven't they come back?" Mikey pondered.

"I hate to say it, but brainless has a point, maybe their waiting for the right opportunity to strike when Austria is alone and defenseless, hence why they came when I was in the coma." The group nodded their heads at my statement.

"So it's settled? We will come up with a plan that includes setting up a trap so that it looks like Austria is alone and has no one to fight for her. Hun will definitely be with the Dragons on that expedition so if we can take out Hun for good, we can take out the entire organization." I summed up our plan.

"You could also use Austria's incredible Ninjitsu skills to your advantage my son." Splinter appeared out of nowhere with a small cup of tea in his furry hands. "She may be a female, but she has more potential than any warriors I have ever seen, except you my sons, of course." He smiled, bowed to us, and walked away into his chamber after pouring more tea into his cup.

"Does he always do that?" Nathan asked.

"What, the giving random, useless advice part? Or the sneaking up on you out of nowhere part?" Mikey smiled and spun one of his nun chucks around in the air.

"Leo, as good as this plan sounds, like Donnie said, we don't even know if the Dragons are in the City anymore and it could take weeks, maybe months to find em'" Raph sighed.

"I guess we'll have to find out then wont we? We leave tomorrow night. That gives us two more days to prepare Austria…" I began.

"NO!" Don stood up from the table. "It's too dangerous! Leo you're completely underestimating the Dragons. There stronger then they look." His face was full of fear and uncertainty. I understood how he felt but we had to do this and I was fully trusting in Austria's abilities as a warrior.

"Don, I know this is hard for you, but we'll all be there waiting and if anything goes wrong, we will be there to save her. And to be honest Don, I think you're just underestimating Austria." I grinned up at him but he still looked like he was about to burst out in tears. "If its Hun your worried about, don't worry, I'm going to make sure I get face to face with that lunatic, I want to be the one to finish him."

"Hold up fearless, I thought you and I put the smack on Hun for good? Remember? I finished him off myself back at his hideout." Raph blurted out.

"Um, no Raph, _I _finished him off while he knocked you unconscious remember? Besides, I don't think that small little knife could kill a 300 pound Purple Dragon anyway." I said with a grin on my face. Raph scowled as Michelangelo made fun of him for getting knocked unconscious. Of course, my hothead of a brother wouldn't let himself be ridiculed by our _baby _brother so he grabbed the young turtles arm and flung his body flat onto the table. Our bowls and glassware fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces. Don screamed and jumped away as quick as he could and swore out my scolds that immediately followed.

"Raphael!" I yelled as Mikey rolled across the table and fell onto the floor, moaning and pretending to gag. I was surprised our million year old wood table didn't shatter like the glass ware did. Raph just grinned and put his arms behind his head, making the huge veins in his un-naturally large arms lurk out like a pop-up book. That's how Raph intimidated people he wasn't allowed to fight, if you haven't figured that out by now.

"What? You just slipped Mikey didn't yah?" He kicked the orange masked turtle in the shin until he stood up off the ground and gave and whined.

"Yeah, into a whole lot of ugly!" Mike apparently had rescued a fallen bowl of meal and threw it all over Raph's plastron.

"Oh Boy..." Don ran out of the kitchen and across the bridge to his island. He held his fingers to his mouth and watched the brawl from a safe distance. That was why Donatello was the smart one.

"You're so dead!" Raphael pushed the table out of the way and ran after our knuckleheaded brother around and around the lair. Eventually, Mikey seems to find a way to evade him. This time, he ran over to me and jumped into my lap and let me tell you, Mikey may be the youngest of us turtles, but he had to have weighed at least 190 pounds. So when he jumped into my lap, you can imagine the agony I was experiencing until I finally threw him into Raph's arms. I had to take a moment and…recuperate, if you know what I mean and sometimes I think Mikey deserves the treatment he gets from Raph. Right before he was about to pound the crying little turtle into dust particles, April came running down the stairs and grabbed our attention.

"Ladies and Gentleman… and Mikey…I give you, the new and improved, Austria Westly!" She shot out her hands and clapped as some girl came walking down the stairs in a dark pair of jeans and white blouse. Of course, this caught Donnie's attention and he leaped across the bridge and joined us once again in the kitchen.

"Austria?" We all said at the same time as she smiled so hard it looked like her cheeks were going to tear open from the tension. Her hair was pulled back behind her head and when she spun around, you could see it was in a bun or something in the back. Little, brown strands hung down on her blush, red cheeks. When she walked into the little bit of light we had in our lair, her eyelids sparkled with a bluish tint.

"What did you do to my Austria!?" Don walked over and hugged her and told her how pretty she looked.

"I'll tell you what she did, She's HOT!" Mikey clapped his hands and whistled.

"Oh you guys." She waved her hand at us and her neat, light blue nails also sparkled in the light. She looked like a whole new person and if April hadn't told us it was Austria, I probably would have mistaken her for an intruder.

"Holy shit you look…different!" Raph was looking up at her in awe, as were the rest of us. I kept a close eye on Nathan as he got out of his chair, and kissed Austria's hand. I let him have the slip for now, since he probably didn't know Don and her were "together."

I expected Don to have pulled out his staff and whack the cop on the head but he simply shifted positions and hold onto her tighter. Austria, on the other hand, didn't even seem to care. Her face was beaming with excitement as she humbly accepted all the comment she was receiving from the team. Casey even walked in and almost fell backwards when he saw her.

"April has the magic touch doesn't she?"

"Oh stop it Casey Jones." She laughed.

Austria turned to me and grinned so I just looked away and sighed, trying not to let my emotions take over. She was absolutely beautiful and this is _exactly_ what I _didn't _want to happen. I would have to kick April in the ass later for this since she is officially the one to blame.

"How do I look Leo?" She said in that high-pitched "I've got you right where I want you" tone. That was here way of getting under my skin and I hated it. You would think I would be able to control myself considering my sorcerer back round, but it was like she knew exactly what made me tick and ever chance she got, she would use it against me so I simply looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"Normal."

Don gave me a look and I expected him to anyway but if he only knew.

"Listen Leo, if you insult her your insulting me too" April patted my shoulder.

"She looks nice. Good job April."

"Why can't you just compliment me for once?" Austria popped a hip.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me!"

"Because you never give me a reason to" I was about ready to walk away but that would show a sign of weakness and then it may be more apparent about my feelings towards the girl. So I sighed and decided to go along with it. "You look nice Austria Westly."

She huffed but accepted the compliment. We were so alike some people might even think we were related. She has the same stuck up attitude that I have which is good I suppose until it interferes with training and leading the team. They can't possibly be why I'm attracted to her…could it?

"So do you know the plan for the next few days?" I quickly changed the topic.

"No, what's up?" She sat down at the little table and poured herself a bowl of cereal from an un-shattered bowl. I told her the whole thing while she munched down on food and downed a whole class of orange juice. She completely agreed with me but Don seemed to have other Idea's. He tried to convince her it wasn't safe but she told him that all her training wasn't going to go to waste. I respected Donnie for not forcing her to reject, he simply sighed and turned away. He said he would go along with the plan, but he made it clear that he didn't have to like it.


	16. Chapter 16

: Chapter 16:

Master Splinter made_ all_ of us clean up the mess that Michelangelo and Raphael made. Even Nathan, April and Casey were down on their hands and knees picking up little pieces of broken glass while the rest of us swept the floor and I repaired the table. The worst part was, Splinter stood there and lectured us while we did it. As if wasting valuable time wasn't enough.

"You do understand the risks of this mission don't you?" He asked

"Yes Splinter…" we all said in unison.

"Good, I hope you have a plan figured out by now Leonardo, or you can just continue cleaning while you think of one." Leo rolled his eyes and kept sweeping the floor. Austria kept shooting him dirty looks from across the kitchen that he simply rejected and ignored like the stuck up leader he was.

"This is your fault." Mikey said to our hotheaded brother. "Do you know how many levels of Space Invaders I could have completed by now?!"

"If yah don't shut your yap I'm ganna slam yah into the Statue of Liberty, or will your big, fat body break that too?!" Raph scowled while emptying a dust pan full of glass and wood into a large trash bag that April held open for him. After a couple more antagonizing minutes, the table was as close to repaired as I could get it and the rest of the group finished tidying up the area.

"With all due respect Sensei, if we're going to execute this plan we need to get some last few hours of training in." Leo approached our master with a sympathetic tone. Splinter sighed and nodded his head.

"You may go, all of you." He motioned to Nathan, April and Casey, then pointed to the dojo. "All of you must train unless of course, Mr. Reese would like to go home."

"No no, I want to help you guys. I think Austria deserves justice and if there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it. Plus, I _might_ also have some unfinished business with those Dragon baboons." Nathan pledged.

"Very well, you will train with the rest of us. Come now, this way." Splinter led the group into the dojo. Honestly, this was the only room in the house that wasn't destroyed or crowded with junk and furniture. Splinter called it our "sanctuary," a place to escape our troubles and focus on mastering our ninja skills. April, Casey and Nathan trained separately with Splinter while Leo was put in charge of us brothers and Austria. He was vicious, uneasy, and heartless when he made us battle one on one until we each won a match 5 times. At least he remembered that night him and I had in his room, when I practically spilled my heart out about Austria, when he didn't put us against each other. Once and awhile I would peek away from my opponent and see how she was doing. That girl can kick some serious butt! She had Mikey on the ground in no time and didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat!

We trained, and trained, and trained until our legs and arms were ready to fall off and our shells (and backs) were going to snap in half from the over use. To keep us going, Leo kept telling us how important it was that we defeated Hun and the Purple Dragons and that it couldn't be accomplished unless we were fully prepared to do it. To motivate _me_ personally, he mentioned Austria's life and how greatly at stake it was. That only made me angry though, but when I get angry, I don't lash out and punch a wall like Raph does. I simply walk out or go up into the City for some fresh air. Sadly, I couldn't walk away from this one because Leo was right, we needed to be prepared. At least he could try and be a bit more sympathetic towards us though, especially the only girl in the group. Then again, that was asking too much from our _fearless_ leader.

"Can…we have a break?" Austria was panting like she had just run a marathon...TWICE. She fell onto the floor and curled into a fetal position. I got to her before Leo could and stood over her body like an umbrella to make sure he wouldn't force her to get up and resume training, if that's what you even call this kind of torture.

"Leo, she's had enough! We've been training for 6 hours straight!" Even when his large body greatly out sized mine, I stayed stationary and protested against his neglect. He stared at me and growled deeply to himself.

"Fine, 10 minute break, then its right back to training." He gave me one final look before walking out of the dojo, leaving four, exhausted, mutants behind. Raph fell onto the ground and Mikey collapsed right on top of him. The hothead was so tired that he didn't even force our baby brother off his shell.

"I'm starting to questions Leo's goals here." Mike said in a delirious voice. "You guys can fight Hun, I'm stayin right here!"

"Oh no you aint!" Raph used both his hands to send the turtle flying across the room. "Anyone else notice that Leo aint trainin himself nearly as hard as he is us?!"

"Maybe he is at maximum training capacity." Austria raised her arm in the air, and then dropped it back to the ground.

"Are you alright?" I helped her sit up slowly and prevent her from puking all over the dojo's floors. Her skin looked extremely pale and the blue color above her eyes was more distinct from the lack of blood flow. Yet, she still looked amazing even when she was fighting.

"Yeah…I'm just great." She smacked my face lightly and stood up off the ground. That definitely wasn't a love slap considering I had to hold my hand to my face and rub it from the impact. She wobbled a bit on her legs until she regained her balance, then fell right back over again. Leo was working her too hard and he would greatly pay for it if he didn't stop.

"Come on, let's go have dinner." I looked at Mikey in particular who jumped up off the ground and ran right out of the dojo with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"But Leo said…" Austria began. "Ah screw it. Let's go eat."

I helped her up off the floor, for a second time, and supported her weight against my body. She wrapped her arm around my neck and slowly wobbled with me out of the room and Raphael close behind us. We got into the kitchen where Leo was standing in front of the fridge with his arms crossed.

"No dinner until we finish training." She smirked

"How did you hear us from_ all_ the way out here?" Austria looked ready to pounce on him and kick his shell in. Leo simply tapped his head and smiled.

"Leo please! Look at us! Look at Austria! We're exhausted!" I pleaded with our eldest brother like I never had before. I wasn't concerned about my condition nearly as much as I was Austria's. She may be invincible but she can get tired too just like the rest of us. I've never really spoken out against his decisions until recently. I guess Austria's arrival into my life sparked something in my shell that just brought out the bad turtle in me. It looked like I wouldn't have to for much longer though, April came walking over and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Leo, Splinter ended our training a while ago. I know you're afraid about…" April began.

"I'm not afraid!" He lashed out suddenly, making April take a few steps back next to Raphael who scowled and rested his hands on his Sais. "I'm sorry…I'm just…"

"Stressed? I know and it's alright. These guys have done a good job and you can practice more before you leave tomorrow. Take some time now to go over things and talk ok?" She reproached him after he sat down at the table.

"I'm sorry guys…go ahead, eat up."

You didn't have to tell Mikey twice. He was at that fridge faster than the speed of light and already pulling out boxes of leftover pizza from a week ago. I sat Austria down at the chair _farthest_ away from Leonardo and went to get her something to eat. I figured since this was our last night before the plan would take effect, I thought we could go over my findings from the time I spent with Mr. Reese. I grabbed two slices and popped them into our tiny microwave.

"Still good after all these years baby." MIkey said after shoving probably the third piece of pizza into his mouth.

"Ew what?!" Austria cried out but I reassured her that our level headed brother was only kidding. When the slices were done, I handed them to her and sat down at the table. Raph threw a piece onto a plate and put it in front of Leo with a great deal of attitude.

"Hey save some for me!" Casey came running over and tackled Raph from behind.

"Enough!" Splinter, who showed up out of nowhere, smacked to two on the head with his walking stick and forced them to settle down. We had to pull a few chairs over for April, Casey and Nathan that now made our tiny table, seem even tinier as we all squished together like sardines to try and give everyone some space.

"Screw it!" Austria stood up and pushed her chair away.

"Aus what are yah…" Raph began but then stopped after she made herself comfortable on my lap. Splinter gave us a few looks but seemed to not care for more than a few seconds. I wrapped my arms around her waist and leaned my head against her back, ready to fall asleep. I heard everyone scoot their chairs down after some new space was welcomed.

"Alright…so what's the big plan?" Casey started the conversation of the night.

"First, I would like to present my findings." I interrupted something I don't do very often. I peeked my head around Austria's back so I could see mostly everyone's faces. Nathan smiled at me and nodded his head, ready to support me.

"Please don't talk about me, I feel really selfish when you do." She leaned back against my plastron and cupped my cheek in her palm.

"Don't worry, we love hearin about your flaws Aus." Raph shot her a wink.

"Would you like me to begin Donatello?" Nathan offered. I gave him a small nod and he cleared his throat and sat up straight in his chair. "The reason I believe that the transfer of energy from Austria, to me, was successful, is because I was infected with a virus." Everyone suddenly perked up and paid full attention to our speaker.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"On February 15th at approximately 11:06 AM, I was diagnosed by my doctor with Leukemia. Two days later, on February 17th at approximately 3:45PM I was leukemia free after Austria's energy transfer was successful on me. The transfer worked because I was already infected with a deadly virus." Nathan looked so professional when he spoke. His fingers were crossed and he leaned perfectly straight up in his chair.

"So you're saying that in order for it to work, the subject has to be near death?" Leo summed it up for us. Nathan nodded. "I guess that would explain Mikey and I."

"Wait…does that mean I'm immortal?!" Mikey stood up from his chair and pounded his fist in the air.

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk about." I said. "Mikey, you're not immortal because you literally _died_. The blood you got from Austria was just enough to bring you back to life and that's it."

"I don't believe you!" He pouted.

"I'll help!" Raph grabbed a Sai and stuck the tip of it a few centimeters into Mikey's bicep. April shrieked and grabbed Casey's arm as did Austria but she dug her face into my shoulder instead.

"Raphael!" Splinter and Leo said simultaneously.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Mikey looked at his arm and watched a small stream of blood trickle down it. Raph pulled the whining brother closer so he could see the injury.

'It aint healin Mikey."

"NO SHIT!" He slapped his brother away and ran to get the first aid kit over at my work area. Raph and Casey chuckled silently while Leo shook his head in disapproval.

"Leo's turn." Austria hissed.

"Leo, your sorcerer blood probably fought off Austria's." I said but he just lifted his shoulders like it didn't matter to him.

"So Don, I thought I heard you say something about the other subjects or whatever being injured or summthin?" Raph asked as Mikey trudged back over to the table and plopped down in his chair but not before sticking his tongue out at him.

"They were injured but they weren't infected internally." I answered. "We figured that out by running some tests on a few rats we found in the sewers. I had some of Austria's blood left over and used it on a rat with a foot missing, and a rat that had pneumonia. The one without the foot died while the other lived."

"So there's a mutant rat in the sewers now?!" Mikey screeched. "Other than Master Splinter?!"

"Not exactly…we ran some more test to see if they were immortal or not." I smiled.

"So? Are they?" April was really getting into this.

"Umm…no but they are invincible."

"How can you be invincible and not immortal?" Casey said.

"It's simple really; we chemically killed the mutant rat. Not physically." Nathan stated.

"So you're trying to find ways that you can kill me?" Austria quietly said.

"No! We were trying to see if you were immortal, that's all. Besides, killing a rat is way different than killing a human. That's a whole different process." I held up a finger "as a matter of factly."

"Yeah, like serial killer Donnie here would know." Raph smirked and gave Casey a high five.

"Anyway Donnie, continue." Leo shushed our brothers and gave me the floor.

"Wait, wouldn't all these blood transfusions be, I don't know, dangerous? Do you even know Austria's blood type?" April asked.

"She doesn't have a blood type. Her mutant blood can morph so it fits the host. One of the perks of being the way she is." Nathan said while smiling at her.

"OK…now that's creepy." Casey laughed.

"Don…" Leo gave me a look.

"Anyway, I was thinking that maybe instead of "killing" Hun, we can just tell him that kidnapping Austria is useless for the reasons I just gave you."

"Don, it's just not that simple. This is Hun we're talking about. He's brutal and heartless and won't stop at anything until he gets what he wants which is Austria's invincibility. He said it himself while Raph and I were in his headquarters."

"That's it!" Austria jumped off me quickly and threw her arms into the air. I tucked my knees into my chest and moaned awkwardly in my chair. That hurt like you couldn't ever believe. "Oh gee sorry Don!" She touched my arm, unsure of what to do. I smiled and held my hand up to let her know I was ok.

"Go ahead…" I managed to get out.

"Ok, why don't we just give Hun what he wants? If he's not infected with some, "life threatening" virus then my blood will kill him anyway!" She preached.

"Sweetie, we can't be certain that Hun is virus free and if he is, what happens when he actually does become invincible?" Nathan tightened his lips.

"I vote for poundin their heads in." Raph slammed his fists together and grinned.

"That makes two of us buddy. No pain no gain." Casey mimicked his movements, making April roll her eyes.

"You have a good point Austria but Nathan is right. It's too risky." Leo kindly stated.

"Hmph." Austria crossed her arms and sat back down on my lap. I tried not to wince but she must have heard me as she turned around and planted a kiss on my cheek. I immediately looked to Splinter who had his attention on Leonardo, across the table.

"I already have our map planned out and where we all will be stationed. We're going to try and do this in Central Park, at night, that way few pedestrians will get hurt. We will do a few hours of training in the morning, and a few in the evening before we leave. Once we get to the park, I will go over everything with you guys and what you're supposed to do alright?" Leo announced.

"Hunter's mine." Austria said in a devious voice.

"We're not going to worry about who pounds who, just that the job gets done." Leo looked to each of us for approval. We all nodded at him, even Austria.

After dinner was over, Leo agreed to give us the rest of the night off to prepare our minds for tomorrow. April and Casey went right to bed along with Raphael and Splinter. Michelangelo went over to the TV's and played video games while Nathan prepared his bed on the love couch. I offered to put him on a sleeping bag in the dojo so he wouldn't have to be disturbed by Mikey's gaming but he insisted he didn't mind the commotion. Last time I saw Leo, he was over in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. When Austria was about to turn in for the night, I stopped her before she could escalate the stairs and pulled her over to my island.

"I really liked your idea." I picked her up and placed her on my workbench. "If you don't mind, I would like to take some of your blood in a syringe." I stared into her eyes as she smiled down at me. She rolled up the sleeve to her blouse and pointed to her forearm.

"I guess you really are the smart one."

I chuckled and took out a sterile needle from my supply drawer. I cleansed her arm with peroxide then carefully pierced where I thought would the most painless area to draw blood from. The syringe filled in a few seconds with her dark red blood. She winced a little when I pulled the needle out but I watched as the small opening healed instantly right before my eyes with nothing left over but a bit of dried blood.

"We're going to get through this. Together." I placed her hands in mine. She leaned down as best she could and placed her soft, cherry lips on mine. I heard someone scowl from over in the kitchen area but right now, I felt like it was just her and I, alone (in a tense) doing the one thing we ever rarely got to do. She slowly lifted her head away from mine and smiled. I reached my hand up to her face and tucked back the little strands of hair that have been bothering me all night. Then suddenly, she said something that made my heart stop completely, and took all the words straight from my mouth so I couldn't speak.

"I love you"


	17. Chapter 17

**HI! So there's going to be a lot of POV changing (heads up) because the team is broken into groups so I have to get everyone's Point of View in there. Reviews Appreciated! ENJOY!**

: Chapter 17:

Once we got out into the dark blanket that was New York City, I started to question Leo's tactics here. We stood high above the ground and looked down onto Central Park. Apparently, there's this really big lake that sits directly in the middle of it and it's _so_ big, that you could see a pair of white swans paddling on its dark surface from all the way up here. As bright as the City was, this certain area of trees and grass was dark and gloomy looking, a perfect place to settle some unfinished business.

"Raph are you in position?" Leo spoke through a small microphone that was attached to a headset he was wearing. "Good, remember, on my signal and nothing else. We're not ganna let your temper ruin this plan."

Don, Leo, Mikey and I were stationed atop this building that gave us a perfect view of the park. Leo ran over the plans with us while we waited for the sun to set completely. Casey and April were positioned on a pair of buildings perpendicular to the one we were currently on, that way they could see if the Dragons were coming from behind us. Raph and Nathan were going to drive around the park and try to draw the Dragons attention and bring them to my position which is going to be dead center in the park. He took this really big, loud, red motorcycle that Don had constructed for this hothead several years ago. Sure it would draw attention… from across the ocean! You'll see what I mean later.

After the Dragons were in the park, and Leo took full measures on what exactly we were up against, everyone would join the fight. Even Splinter, who was already there. We were all in this together.

"How's it looking April?" Don talked through his head piece. "Alright thanks. She said nothing yet. I think we're ready."

"I think so too. Austria, you know what to do. Splinter is waiting for you by the lake." Leo gave me a nod and handed me a headset.

"Sweet!" I grabbed it like a starving child and positioned it comfortable above my head. I fiddled with the Microphone piece until it was right in front of my mouth. Now I would be able to hear everything that was going on. We had two lookouts and men on the ground patrolling the perimeter, sounded like a piece of cake.

"Remember, if anything goes wrong…" He began.

"Yeah yeah, contact Nathan and he will call in the police I know." I rolled my eyes.

"So why aren't the police helping usagain?" Mikey sounded worried.

"Because Michelangelo, this isn't their fight. We only need them if things get ugly, I already told you this." Leo waved me on to start heading down the fire escape. A ran to the edge of the roof and looked down into the ally below. I turned back briefly and looked into Donatello's eyes but he shut them and turned away. Great, I'm risking my life and the last thing the love of my life says to me is…well, nothing.

I sighed and jumped down onto the platform and walked the endless staircases down to the bottom. Instantly, my solemn ninja skills kicked in. I checked all my surroundings before crossing the street, making sure no trucks would appear out of nowhere again, cough cough. I ran across the road as quick as I could and made sure no headlights locked onto me on the way. From there it was smooth sailing. Follow the brown dirt road to the area Splinter would be waiting for me.

"I'm so pumped!" The sudden voice made me jump and almost scream out in terror. It was Casey Jones on the other end.

"That's my boy!" I heard Raph chuckle.

"Would you guys please focus!" Leo scolded.

"Sorry Leo, I'll keep this one in line." There was a smacking sound and then Casey's whimpering. Oh April, sometimes I just love you to pieces. Love…the word bounced around in my head as I recalled last night with Donnie. I had told him I loved him but he just stood there and looked at me like I was crazy. At that point, I wished I had Leo's ninja skills so I could have heard what he was thinking right at that moment. I couldn't sleep that night either; I was too busy worrying about what I had done to him mentally by saying that. I thought we were far enough along in the relationship though, I mean Ladies come on, three months? I think that's long enough to have to wait.

I must have been zoning out again because Master Splinter jumped in front of me and stopped me with his walking stick.

"Austria you must pay attention to your surroundings!" He and Leo are all too much alike. "You were supposed to stop awhile back. Come on, we must hurry." He grabbed my wrist with his furry paw and turned me around. We ran through the quiet park until we reached a private clearing on the edge of the lake. "Now we wait." He sat down in the grass and placed his stick across his small rat body. He shut his eyes and lifted his head into the breeze. So…am I supposed to look for danger while he just sits there and practices deep breathing?! I have to question my choice of life style sometimes, and friends.

**: Raph's POV:**

"Stop movin!" Maybe if I dump this guy somewhere along the road no one will ever notice he's gone. Nathan was more annoyin then he looks lemme tell you. He wouldn't stop movin around and makin noise! If I was in charge, I would certainly shut him up and maybe cause a few concussions in the process.

"I'm sorry; I just don't like to stay still for too long"

"Then I suggest not becoming a ninja in the near future." I rolled my eyes and looked out the small opening in the alley way. We were sittin down here waitin for Leo's orders which I started to question if they would even come. I looked at the small digital clock on my bike (motorcycle for you non-brooklyners) and read 10:00. I sighed and rubbed my hands down my face. If I have to spend one more minute with this asswipe I swear I'm ganna eat my own shell off. I figured that Leo put me up to this for trashin the kitchen last night. He had his own _secret_ ways of punishin us whenever we did something he didn't like, or was "against the rules."

"Do you suppose we will be departing anytime soon?" Nathan asked for the millionth time.

"I'm not, but you will be and guess were your destination is?" I growled.

"Alright, I'll be quiet" Yeah that lasted about 10 seconds. "Does it happen to be someplace warm?"

"That's it!" I put the kickstand on my bike and grabbed Nathan by the shirt. I slammed his body against one of the brick walls and poked his chest with my finger. "Listen pal! I didn't ask you to come with me! So yah can either zip it or go find refuge with someone who gives a shit!" I hissed.

"Fine, we will call it even. I won't arrest you for assaulting me and you can forgive me for my terrible talking problem." Was he really…negotiatin with me?!

"Raph…" Leo said through my headset.

"WHAT!"

"Let him go."

"Argh!" I lowered his body down from the wall.

"All the way Raphael."

I released my grip and let the man fall to the ground. "You stalkin me Leo? Or is it another one of your _magic _tricks?" I grinned.

"No, I just know when you're lying."

**: Leo's POV:**

"Austria? Are you there?" I called itnto the mic was Raphael was under control.

"Yeah I'm here"

"No, are you with Splinter?"

"YES!"

"Alright!" I rolled my eyes as a breeze gently swept across my face and made the strings to my mask flow like a river behind me. I took a deep breath of the brisk air and listened. If the Dragons were in the area, I would be the first one to know.

"Hey, if she screams like that into that mic one more time I'm goin home." Casey said.

"Raph…" I ignored Casey's comment and called out to my brother.

"YES?" He sounded extremely frustrated. I'm not going to deny or confirm that I _might_ have put him with Nathan just to make him angry.

"Let's do this" I said in my best heroic voice.

"THANK GOD!" I heard the motor to his bike start up and looked back down over the city.

"And Raph…"

"What now?!"

"Nathan better be with you." He growled and yelled for Nathan to get on the motorcycle. I watched the red bike speed off down the street. The plan was in full action.

"Don…" I looked at my brother, expecting him to be ready and excited, but what I found was the total opposite. He didn't look like himself at all. He was leaning on his Bo-Staff and staring into space like a lost puppy. God Don, now wasn't the time to play Romeo. I knew he was upset about Austria leaving his side but I thought he had gotten over it. "Don?!" I tried to bring him back.

"What huh?" is eyes met mine but you could tell he wasn't all there.

"Don, I need you to focus and take your position." I put both my hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake.

"Mikey change of plans, go with Don and make sure he…" The purple masked turtle cocked his head at me. "Is alright"

"Aye Aye captain." Mike saluted me and took Donatello down the fire escape. Mikey was originally going to join April and Casey on the other roof but now he was going with Don into Central Park. This plan wasn't going to work if the brain of the operation is acting delusional. I can only hope that Mikey can keep his attention so the job gets done.

I sat down on the roof and crossed my legs into a meditative position. I took a deep breath and started to slow my breathing so I could close my eyes and get into full concentration. All I had to do now, was listen and wait.

**: Mikey's POV:**

"How much longer?!" I dangled my hand down from the tree I was perched in and swung it back and forth. We had been sitting here for almost 20 minutes now with little to no action. I couldn't stay still this long!

"Relax Mikey, these things take time." I looked down and watched Don as he fiddled with a little syringe filled with red liquid.

"What are you doin?"

"Nothing Mikey. You're supposed to be watching for Raph and Nathan, not worrying about me."

"What's up with you man? I mean, ever since the other night you've been acting all…weird. Even while we trained this morning you kinda kept your distance from everybody." I jumped down from my tree and sat down next to him. I reached my hand up and slapped his headpiece, since I already knew why he was upset and figured someone might want to tune in. Since Don was out of it, he didn't even notice that I had just turned his mic on.

"Nothing Mikey, for the hundredth time. Now please, go back to your position." He used his Bo-Staff to draw me away.

"You know you can tell me anything bro. Even when were about to get our shells handed to us." I went back up into the tree and looked around. The sound of Raphael's motorcycle could be heard from across the country. I suppose that _was_ the point though; to draw attention to ourselves. "Donnie?"

"Mikey…"

"Look, I'm not ganna play Leo with you and all, but I know when a bro is hurting."

He sighed, and then stayed silent. He looked up at me and then back down at the ground where the needle of liquid bounced around in his hands. "She said she loved me"

"Ouch"

"I know, and right before all this too. I didn't know what to say back either. I just froze and looked at her like a total idiot! What if something bad happens to her and I never got to tell her the same thing?" Don put the syringe into his belt and stood up. "I'm such a moron"

"No you're not Donnie boy. I'm sure she knows you love her too and you know what? You can prove it by not letting something bad happen to her." I gave him a cheesy smile which always made him laugh.

"Yeah, I suppose so…"

"Awww" A bunch of voices boomed into my ears and made me smile triumphantly.

"MIKEY! You turned my mic on?!" Don looked ready to snap my shell in half, which is why I ran up the tree a little farther.

"Oh Donnie, that's so sweet" April said.

The olive green turtle buried his head into his hands "Your dead Michelangelo."

"Don…" Austria's voice was next. "You're probably the most compassionate person…turtle I ever met."

He blushed as a radiant smile appeared on his face. "I'm just glad there weren't enough mics for Sensei to have one."

"Can yah guys please stop usin the headphones as a hotline?" Raph scowled from the other end.

**: Leo's POV:**

We waited, and waited until an hour had past. Raph had to refill the bike with gas from driving around the park so many times and Mikey was beginning to complain about the pain in his stomach from not eating for over an hour. I had ignored the earlier conversation that Don broadcasted, since it seemed to only make me angry, so I thought nothing of it.

The group was beginning to grow tired and weary and the only people who never complained were Splinter and Nathan who didn't even have microphones to communicate with. I ignored them and continued to focus on my surroundings. Eventually I would have to call it a night and return home empty handed, but it appeared that that moment would be coming quicker than I had hoped.

"LEO" They all seemed to yell simultaneously. I shot my eyes open and stood up off the roof. We will call it a night but we were going to be here again tomorrow, and the next day until these thugs were either dead or behind bars.

"Alright guys…let's pack it up." I sighed from the defeat.

"Thank GOD!" Casey rejoiced. "I mean, don't worry. There's always tomorrow."

Suddenly, as I began to walk down the fire escape, I heard the roars of an unfamiliar car engine in the distance. "Wait…"

"UGH! Now what?" Mikey cried.

"They're coming" I could hear there angry thoughts. They were filled with rage and their hearts were longing for destruction. Those were our guys alright. "Scratch that…there here." I jumped back onto the roof and looked down on the street. Three large, black cars broke into the main road that circled Central Park. "Raph!"

"I'm already there bro."

I heard the thunderous roar of Raphael's motorcycle and watched as it bolted around the corner and landed directly in front of the vehicles. For a moment they just sat there and did nothing until someone from one of the black cars opened fire on the red bike.

"That's them! Hun is shootin at us!" Raph called out through the mic. He roared his engine and took off down the road with the cars close behind him. "This is it guys! It's really happening!"


	18. Chapter 18

**5,000 word finale!** **ENJOY! Yeah! **

: Chapter 18:

"Raph! I think someone's following yah! HaHa" Casey chuckled through the headset.

"Shutup you asswipe and get movin!" Raph yelled out but he was right, the battle wasn't about to begin, it had already begun. Splinter's eyes shot open as if he had heard the conversation which would be freaky because he didn't have a headset.

"They are here." He said in a really chilling voice. "Quickly, you must prepare yourself for battle. Remember, the difference between success and failure is the connection you have between your mind and body. Think before you act, and try to find your opponents weakness. Take this to defend yourself." He reached into his ragged coat and pulled out a small battle knife. He handed to me and then quickly scurried into a high up tree and practically disappeared into the branches. He was our "secret weapon." I felt my heart begin to pound harder and harder as the sound of Raphael's roaring motorcycle became more and more apparent. The confidence I once had had, suddenly washed out of me completely and left behind a scared, empty corpse.

I started to question if Leo's plan would even work. Would April, Casey, Don, Mikey, Leo, Raph and Nathan even get here on time before Splinter and I were crushed under the relentless boots of the Purple Dragons? There wasn't enough time to answer my question because Raphael sped right past the dirt road that I was near which was my signal to get into position. I ran out from the covering of the brush and stood right in the middle of the road. Three, huge, black cars slammed on their breaks and twisted in violent directions as they tried to come to a stop.

"Let's do this." I whispered to myself.

The cars just sat there for a minute, as if to identify if I was who they were after or not. Then the passenger side to the first car flung open and an extremely large, buff, on steroids looking man stepped out, making the car wobble. He looked at me for a second and then smiled deviously.

"Austria Westly I presume?" He said in a deep, manly tone.

"Fat and ugly I presume?" I grinned and unexpectedly, he grinned back. In case you forgot, we already met back in that little convenience store when I ran away from school. "So I'm guessing you want me or something?"

"You guessed correctly you little brat. You and your reptilian friends have been causing us enough trouble as it is and now I get to take a look inside your body and see what makes you so incredible and then use it to create a super army!" All the doors to the cars flung open and about 2 dozen men on steroids stepped out yielding weapons upon weapons. They looked like they haven't slept in days and their hair colors ranged from poop brown to hot pink. What was strange was, half of them looked like they were no older than 17. "I have turtles to deal with though and right now, you're not my primary goal but I still aint ganna let you leave here when you're an important part of this entire operation I'm funding. It's also a good chance to give our newest recruits a feel for how we do things around here." Hun grinned and took a few steps back. Suddenly, a familiar face dropped down out of nowhere and landed a few feet away from me.

"H-Hunter?" My knees began to wobble even though I was told to expect to see him here. He was back to the old ripped sweatshirt and 80 year old looking pants and shoes but there was something different about his eyes. He looked hungry, hungry for revenge. He rolled back his shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes.

"You know what to do." Hun got back into one of the cars along with half of the Purple Dragon team. They zoomed past me, leaving nothing behind but a dozen teenage thugs and a seriously messed up kid, longing for destruction.

"You should have died while you had the chance." His voice was still awkward sounding, a bit off pitch, which made it hard to throw comebacks at him since you're trying to get used to it.

"Austria, change of plans, we weren't intending on the group splitting up." Leo talked through the head piece.

"Leo…now is not the time!" Hunter cocked his head at me as I spoke into thin air.

"Listen, I need you to stall them until we can all group up."

"Sure thing oh wise and powerful!" I looked up at the Dragons. Great, nothing like a bunch of crime hungry, lunatics to get your night going. "Since when did you turn against me? Is it because I wouldn't tell you about the guys when you asked?" I took a few steps back.

"You really haven't figured it out, have you?" He grinned. "I've been a member of the purple dragons ever since I was a kid. I knew your father when I was 6, I watched him abandon and cheat us. From there, I swore revenge on him, in a sense." He gestured to me.

"I didn't kill my dad!" Now I'm getting a little angry.

"Were you not the reason he got into a car accident? If you weren't so careless he would probably be alive today." He smirked and raised his shoulders. "While Hun and everyone else wanted to get their revenge on him by beating the living hell out of his worthless body, I wanted to do something a bit more…personal." He started to pace around me slowly so I had to constantly turn my body to keep an eye out for a sneak attack.

"I figured; why not destroy the one thing your father ditched us for? This obviously, was a test tube baby." He laughed with a hint of sinister vengeance in his tone. "I started to follow you the moment he took you home…I think you were 3 or 4 and I was 7. They treated you like shit so I let you live for the time being. Watching them beat you up and put you down was the sweetest revenge I could have asked for. Then, you decided to put matters into your own hands. You sought refuge in Brooklyn. I intended on slaying you at that little clothing store we finally came face to face at but I received a call from Hun saying that now he wanted you alive. He said he would allow me to kill you after he was finished retrieving your energy, if I found out and told him the location of the turtles." He was slowly getting closer and closer to me. I clenched my fists but not from the sudden threat, he was trying to get me angry with all these stories and I hate to say that it was working. I could feel my own blood begin to boil from the anger and Hunter wasn't ganna like it when he finally set me off.

"Shutup!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The grin on his face grew wider as I growled with increasing amounts of fury. I don't care if I was giving him what he wanted, I was going to tear him into little itty bitty Hunter pieces. "You protected me! You fought the Dragons and Donnie to protect me! You told off Hun when I ran away from school!" My headpiece started sizzle and a few familiar voices began to talk but I was so focused on Hunter, I didn't even hear a word they said.

"How else was I supposed to get you to trust me? If you saw that I was on your side you would lead me to this "lair" in no time. After a while though, you continued to refuse to tell me anything so I decided to follow you. Your careless actions and selfish behavior is what now is leading you to your death." He stopped pacing when he reached his gang and pulled out a butterfly sword. I knew because it was my favorite weapon to train with when Raph and I would…oh…did I tell you about that? Yeah, Raph had secret fighting sessions with me and let me tell you, butterfly knives are the coolest thing ever, except when someone is about to kill you with it.

"Leo…now would be a good time to jump in!" I gripped my microphone and adjusted the headset. "Leo? Anyone?! Are you there?!" Hunter and the Dragons began to advance closer and closer to me with malicious smiles on their faces. "GUYS!?" I screamed for a response but no one answered. They must either be busy with Hun and the other Dragons or want to watch me get my ass kicked.

"Game over." Hunter smirked and then leaped into the air a few feet until he was directly over top of me. If I hadn't jumped out of the way, his sword would have made a clean slice straight down through my body. I rolled into the grass and pulled out the battle knife Splinter had given me.

"Ooo, shiny." He walked towards me and once again, tried to cut my body clean in half but I used my weapon to block his attack. I swept my foot around and knocked him flat on his back. I do say, he looked _extremely_ shocked at my new talents.

"What? You were expecting an unprepared, orphan girl?" I smiled. "The guys taught me everything I would need to know to defeat you low life serfs."

"Dragons!" He called out and instantly, all the other guys who were standing off to the side came running after me screaming and yelling with their weapons high in the air. Something the guys also taught me was run like hell in case of an emergency! I turned around to flee but I was stopped by another familiar face. Splinter leaped over me and took a battle stance. The hoard of boys stopped, examined the mutant rat, and then started to laugh.

"This City is all sorts of messed up!" One of them said but it only seemed to draw a grin on Splinter's small fury face. Now listen closely and don't blink…you blinked didn't you! Well now you missed it. Splinter had disappeared into the air and after a few smacking and wailing sounds, every single thug except Hunter, were now lying lifeless on the ground. Suddenly, he jumped down from out of the sky and rested his arms on his walking stick.

"No element is greater than the one of surprise. You're master Hun should have taught you that." He said in a wise old voice. Hunter, who now looked absolutely terrified, swung his butterfly sword in small circles while he appeared to be figuring out how to deal with us. He grew angry and growled softly to himself.

Something about him though, made me stop my spiteful attitude towards him, and study his purpose with a sense of compassion. I looked into his eyes and realized _who_ I was looking at. He was just a teenager, a teenager like me. He still had his whole life ahead of him along with the younger Dragons.

"Hunter listen! It doesn't have to be this way. You're not one of them and you don't have to be!" I sheathed my knife and held my arms open.

"Shutup! You don't know what we all have been through!"

"I think I have a pretty good idea!" I pointed to myself hopefully trying to remind him about my abusive family background.

"If there's one thing Hun did teach us, it was to go out with honor. For me to do that, you need to be lying in a casket!" He charged at me again with his sword straight out in front of his body.

"No!" Splinter yelled and leapt in front of me. He used his walking stick to smack the sword right from Hunter's hands and send it flying into the nearby lake. "You must listen to the things she says! You do have a choice and you can choose the path of good rather than the one of evil!"

"You can't change me… "He quickly swung his leg around but was intercepted by Splinter. He leapt into the air and used his foot to send Hunter flying back a few yards so he smashed right into a large oak tree. A blood curdling snap emitted from his body and then he sank into the grass and lay motionless on the ground.

"Oh No…" I ran over to where he was lying and dropped down next to him. By this time, the other Dragons were getting up off the ground and rubbing their heads. I watched as they looked towards me and saw who I was holding in my arms. They screamed and dropped their weapons while running away as fast as they could. I looked down to the corpse I held in my arms. His body was already started to grow cold. "He's…" My eyes started to water as I put my finger tips against his neck. It was true… his heart was still. I started to cry but not because I mourning the one who tried to kill me just a few minutes ago. I was crying because Hun did this to him. Hun messed with his mind and screwed up his life so the only thing he knew was anger and resentment.

"My daughter…" Splinter laid a hand on my shoulder. "I did not intend to…"

"I know Sensei." I wiped the tears from my eyes and gently laid Hunter on the grass. "I wish he could have had a second chance at life, like I did." I stood up from the ground and tried to pull myself together.

"I understand. It is a shame that so many young people are being drawn in to taunt with the acts of evil. There is a time to mourn for the ones we lost, but right now, we must find the others." Splinter stepped towards the large tree and slowly bowed over the empty corpse. He whispered a few things and then straightened up again. "Quickly, we must go."

**: Mikey's POV:**

"AH!" I jumped as fast as I could to get out of the way of the huge, meaty fist that just swung towards my precious face. "Easy pal! Time magazine is ganna be pretty pissed if you mess up my gorgeous face! Who else will the use for the front cover?!" I hopped out of the way again as he swung a long chain towards me. We were battling the Hun and the Purple Dragons on the roof of the second watch tower. How did we get here? Well, turns out the Dragons split up into two small sectors. The first sector was Hun and the big mean wolves and the second, was Hunter and a bunch of new recruits. How do I know this? Hun told us while trying to rip our heads off.

"You…are…so…annoying!" The Dragon yelled as he continued to swing his chain violently towards me. Thankfully, I was too quick for him to even lay a finger on me.

"Thank you! That was my college major after all." I leaped into the air and landed on his shoulders. I then quickly kicked off his back so he went stumbling to the ground with one huge "Thump!" So anyway where was I? Oh yeah! Once Leo saw the Dragons split up, he risked leaving Austria and Sensei alone so we all could gang up together and take down Hun like he said. Raph drew them towards us and ditched his awesome ride to lead them up the fire escape Nathan came to help but Leo told him he could help by getting the cops, so he hoped on the motorcycle and took off and now here we are. It's good guys versus the bad guys and so far, no one's winning.

"Hiyah!" April started to kick the crap out of a thug until he went crashing to the floor from a sweep of her legs. Raph and Casey looked like they were having a swell of a time together making Dragons fall to the ground left and right. Leo for some reason decided to take Hun by himself. They were battling it out hardcore and both of them often received deadly blows from the other but Leo stayed strong and continued on. Don was helping everyone by jumping in and saving our shells (and backs) as needed. It was probably best too. He still seemed a little out of it.

We had heard Austria's cries for help but we were all too busy to answer her considering the odds. There was nothing we could do but hope her and Splinter were doing ok.

"Hey Mikey!" Raph called out from across the roof. "Up and away!" Raph knocked a Dragon right in the chest with his foot and sent him flying over in my direction. I fell back on my shell and used my legs to kick the thug right up into the air and onto the next roof. "Nice!"

"Righteous!" Casey gave us a thumbs up.

**: Austria's POV:**

"So where do you think they…" I started to ask when all of a sudden, a strange scream came from above the buildings and a body went flying off our second watch base roof and landed on another. "Never mind."

"Quickly!" Splinter grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the park and across the now quiet street. We ran into the closest ally and climbed the creaky fire escape. "My sons!" Splinter immediately leapt into action and planted his foot right into the back of Hun's head. But of course, since Hun was so frickin big, the sudden blow barely moved him. "So, looks like Hunter didn't have the guts to finish you!" Leo, who was battling this dinosaur at the time, was knocked back by a pair of older Purple Dragons and pinned against the ground. Raph and Mikey went to aid him and succeeded. They freed their brother and now everyone on the roof was still.

"That boy perished by the likes of you!" Splinter pointed to Hun who simply chuckled.

"I knew he wouldn't make it very far. He wasn't ready for the real world but it looks like that doesn't matter anymore. Now you're all here and we can finally settle things once and for all!" Hun raised his fist and screamed into the air and once again, the battle raged on. Fists, guns, chains, swords and feet swung through the air and tried desperately to land themselves on the opponent's body. These Dragons were older and much better trained but they fought like cowards and ganged up on a single person. A swarm of Dragons encircled April and Casey but the guys were too busy fighting their own goons, they couldn't get to their rescue.

"Hang on!" I started to run to their position while dodging separate battles that were going on around me. Right when I thought I was going to make it, a large hand grabbed me by the back and swung my body to the ground, knocking the wind from my lungs.

"NO!" I heard Donatello yell. I turned my head to the side and watched as he tried to come to my aid but was thrown back when Hun punched him right in the plastron with excessive force. There was no air in my lungs and I couldn't cry out to him and see if he was alright. I turned my head back to the dark, starless sky and gasped for air.

"I believe you have something I want." Hun knelt down over me and bound my hands over my chest with a cold, icy chain. I continued to hear the sounds of the guys trying to come to my rescue but Hun yelled for the Dragons to keep them away. "Good thing you don't have to be alive for me to take it from you!" The great Godzilla pulled out a small syringe from his back pocket that was filled with a glowing blue liquid. "You think we don't know how to kill a mutant like you? Our head of science figured it out in a matter of hours. A single dose of Sulfuric acid should so the trick." He chuckled malevolently and plunged the needle into my arm. I still couldn't speak, and so my last words would bee said in a hushed voice. "I died…with honor."

"Hey Hun!" I saw his big, ugly head snap to the side and I couldn't help but turn mine as well. Don used his Bo-Staff to spring over the other Dragons and run a straight line to us. He pulled out a small syringe from his belt that was filled with a red liquid, my blood. "If you want it so bad, take it!" He leapt into the air and landed on Hun's back who began to scream and thrash at the small turtle. He lifted the needle into the air and plunged it right into the monsters neck. Don gracefully flipped off him and landed softly over top of my limp body. I found the strength to turn over onto my stomach to watch the chaos that began to unfold.

"What have you done!" Hun's voice began to grow deeper and deeper and he clenched his throat with both his hands. He fell to his knees and screamed for someone to help him, but no one came. His entire body slowly faded into a dark purple and his eyes turned colorless. Finally, the struggling stopped and the great and powerful Hun fell to the ground, dead. Nothing but a small trickle of blood escaped his mouth, it was over.

Leo suddenly had a burst of anger and began to chase every singly Purple Dragon off the roof and onto the ground below. Raph and Casey joined in and swung their weapons at the retreating army until the only ones on the roof were four mutant turtles, a mutant rat, three "humans" and Hun's corpse.

"So uh…did we win?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah Mikey, we won." Leo said.

Don put his hands under y back and slowly lifted me off the ground so I was cradled warmly in his arms. "You can't get away that easy." He smiled but his tearing eyes said otherwise. "I thought I was going to lose you without every getting to tell you that I loved you." He pushed back a few strands of hair behind my ear.

"Well here I am." I spoke softly since I still felt the effects of the wind getting knocked out of me. Mikey and Raph went "Oooooh!" while April held her hands to her neck and smiled.

"I love you, Austria Westly."

"And I love you Donatello"

**::**

This is the story of my life. How I rose up from the clutches of a battered home life and sought refuge in the most unlikely of places and fell in love with the most unlikely of creatures. It was not the turtles that saved me, but me saving myself. This is the story of how I overcame my fears and sought justice against a violent New York gang known only as the Purple Dragons. Nathan and the police arrived soon after the battle was over. Every single one of them were arrested and brought into custody except the teenagers who were offered the chance that I was so graciously given, a chance for a new start. The other ones were imprisoned for life and charged with kidnaping and attempted homicide. They Purple Dragons never again disturbed the busy streets of Manhattan. A year later, Nathan was promoted to head of office a few months later and awarded a gold star for bravery. Even though the turtles and I rejected his offer to a public appreciation for our heroic deeds, Nathan indirectly mentioned us in his speech on the day he was promoted. He told the City that they had a handful of guardian angles that were watching over them and protecting them from the everyday crimes of the New York. We never saw Nathan Reese again, but we knew he would never forget us as we would never forget him. I held a personal funeral for the boy I used to call "friend." I took flowers to the spot where he had died but to my surprise, a bunch of bright purple flowers had already begun to sprout there where I had cried for him and when I tried to pluck one from the ground, they wouldn't budge.

As for the rest of us; Leo and I grew closer together than we had in the past. He got really good with his skills and completely perfected them within a few weeks. We could talk to each other freely and not have a huge argument over things like we use to. But sometimes, I catch him staring deeply into my eyes and a small unfamiliar, gentle smile will cross his face but it only seems to come whenever Donatello isn't around. Raph spends most of his nights outside playing vigilante on the streets of Manhattan. He went to earn the title as "Night Keeper" as seen on the news. Mikey eventually calmed down and started to take things more seriously but once in a while, he would throw in a really good joke and prank his brothers just to get a kick out of it and yes, he can still eat a whole pizza pie on his own.

April and Casey returned to their apartment above the Antique shop soon after Hun's demise. We still saw them once and awhile but they had grown busy for some reason, turns out a few months later, the couple announced that they were pregnant with a baby girl. On the date of her arrival, Don (who was in costume) and I were there at the hospital supporting April through it all along with Casey of course. The child was born but had no name yet. Surprisingly, as April sat in her hospital bed and held the small child, she looked up at the doctors and said the name would be Austria and the middle name would be Dona. Casey loved the idea and supported it 100%.

When the night was quiet, and Casey had fallen asleep uncomfortably on the small hospital couch, I held little Austria in my arms under her mother's watchful eye.

"She's beautiful." She had dark brown hair and April told me that she had opened her eyes earlier and they were shade of what use to be _my_ stunning green eyes.

"She looks like you." I hadn't noticed that Don had snuck up next to me and leaned over to get a look at the baby.

"Strangely enough as that is…" we laughed quietly together, being careful not to wake up the sleeping child…or the baby.

"I wanted to name her after my two most favorite people in the world, besides Casey of course." April whispered. I hadn't noticed that Austria's fists were clenched against her heart and a small silver object was peeking out beneath them. Me, being the cautious person I was, carefully went to take whatever she had from her due to the choking hazard. But when I opened her tiny little fingers, something completely unexpected popped out. My heart stopped and my eyes flooded with the pain of oncoming tears. I picked up the little object and held it in my trembling fingers.

"Austria…" Don put a hand on me and gently rubbed my back.

"Oh my God" I managed to get out. In my hand, was a perfect, beautiful ring with a stunning diamond gently, resting on top. Even in the dim light of the Hospital room, it shone like the top of the Chrysler building and displayed small beams of light in every direction. Yet, when I looked down into the marvelous stone, I could see a small purple flower with its petals reaching out all over and touching every part of the diamond. I was only 17…but I didn't give a crap. I looked up at Donnie whose cheeks were a fiery red and his head was lowered looking at the ground.

"I know were young but…" I didn't give him enough time to finish his sentence. With the baby still in my arms, I carefully silenced him when I met my lips with his. April was bawling in her bed and saying "that's so sweet!" over and over again. Then she started to blurt out things she wanted to do for the ceremony and all that jazz. When I finally released Don, he cupped his hands around my face.

"I don't want to lose you. I want you to _know_ how much I want to be with you." He choked on his words and swore that he wasn't going to cry. "So what do you say Austria Westly? Want to run into the sunset together?" He gave a cheesy smile and laughed at himself.

"I already gave you an answer." I giggled but wanted to make sure he knew that I wanted to be with him too. "It's about time you asked silly and yes, I want to run into the sunset with you." I laughed but kissed him again so he knew I was serious. I thought my life would never have a happy ever after, but I guess even the most unfortunate of people, can live a perfect fairytale.

**I would like to thank everyone who showed support during this series! I really enjoyed every single part of this and I have plenty of more FanFics to come! I hope you enjoyed/loved this two part Fic and even if you didn't, that's ok! You guys are really what kept me going. I got onto Fanfiction every day and checked my reviews and favorites and made sure I was writing for a reason and of course I was! This was my first FanFic for those of you who didn't know…now you know lol. You guys are amazing! Peace out! See you soon!**


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